Senate Can and Must Pass Bold Climate and Social Investments Without Delay

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA -- As the Senate returns from recess, the Sierra Club is making it clear this is a make-or-break moment for taking on the climate, economic, and health threats that working families and communities of color face. The organization is calling for Congress to swiftly pass a bold suite of investments, building on the broad array of historic climate and social investments in the Build Back Better Act that already have agreed upon support from Senate Democrats. 

Previously, the Sierra Club has detailed the high costs of inaction, including:

• increasing economic devastation, illness, and death from climate-fueled disasters such as hurricanes, floods, heat waves, wildfires, and droughts;

• families struggling to pay for childcare, eldercare, electricity, preschool, housing, and prescription drugs;

• unabated air and water pollution that causes asthma, cancer, lead poisoning, and other critical health threats; and

• disproportionately negative health, economic, and environmental impacts in low-income communities and communities of color, fueling racial and economic injustice.

Margaret Levin, State Director of the Sierra Club North Star Chapter, Released the Following Statement:

“The Sierra Club urges President Biden and Senators Klobuchar and Smith to continue their efforts for the Senate to deliver on legislation that includes a broad suite of bold climate and social investments before the State of the Union address. The final deal must build upon the bill’s nearly $600 billion in climate and environmental justice investments and to deliver broadly backed measures to lower costs and strengthen the social safety net to meet President Biden’s commitments to support working families, counter racial and economic injustice, and cut U.S. climate pollution in half by 2030. 

“While Senate Republicans continue to fail us, families and communities across Minnesota need the Senate to swiftly pass bold investments that will expand access to clean and affordable transportation options like public transit, help replace millions of lead service lines, lower the average family’s utility bills, and support community-led efforts to address environmental injustice.

“Each day that passes without these investments is a day of needless stress and suffering for millions of people struggling with overstretched budgets, unabated air and water pollution, unaffordable healthcare, and an onslaught of climate-fueled storms, wildfires, and droughts. Given the enormity of the stakes for our communities, failure is not an option. Let's get this deal done.”