Adam Beitman, adam.beitman@sierraclub.org
WASHINGTON, DC -- On the heels of a blockbuster Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report detailing prospects for our world’s climate future, new details on a pending $3.5 trillion Senate budget resolution make clear that final passage of the package would be the most significant investment in tackling the climate crisis in U.S. history, putting the country on a path to meet President Biden’s climate action goals of 80% clean electricity and 50% economy-wide carbon emissions reductions by 2030, while delivering 40% of the climate investments to disadvantaged communities.
These new details about the forthcoming budget resolution and reconciliation process come ahead of expected passage of the Senate’s bipartisan infrastructure plan, which falls far short of providing the climate, jobs, care, and justice investments our communities need and deserve. For example, the deal would leave three out of four lead pipes in place and replace only 4% of diesel school buses with clean electric vehicles.
Now, the Senate and House have a responsibility to increase funding in budget reconciliation for climate, environmental justice, and other priorities that are critically underfunded in the bipartisan deal.
In response, Sierra Club Deputy Legislative Director Kirin Kennedy released the following statement:
“As the climate crisis deepens, the urgency with which we must tackle it only increases, and that is why Congress must immediately pass major legislation that centers climate action at its core. The Senate budget resolution does that by investing in clean energy tax credits, ending handouts to fossil fuel corporations, including a Clean Energy Payment Program, expanding access to public transit and union-built electric vehicles, retrofitting and electrifying our homes and schools, and protecting and restoring our forests and wetlands.
“The Sierra Club emphasizes that the ongoing bipartisan infrastructure deal and reconciliation package must move in tandem, and that, in alignment with Speaker Pelosi’s public commitments, the House should not act on the bipartisan plan until the Senate passes the full reconciliation package.”
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About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.5 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.