Times up: Markey stresses that “our planet can’t wait”


 
Washington (June 23, 2021) – In today’s Senate Climate Change Task Force meeting, Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Chair of Senate Climate Change Task Force, alongside bicameral members of the task force, held a public discussion on establishing a Civilian Climate Corps, a plan that would create more than one million new, equitable and good-paying jobs across America while attacking the climate crisis. 
 
Senate Climate Change Task Force members in attendance included Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.), and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), House lead of S.1244, Judy Chu (CA-27), and Joe Neguse (CO-02).
 
As Congress undergoes ongoing negotiations regarding infrastructure and budget reconciliation, Senator Markey took this,  During the discussion, Senator Markey addressed the lawmakers whom are participating in the ongoing infrastructure and budget reconciliation talks and urging the following: “this message needs to be heard: our planet can’t wait, our young people can’t wait, and the Civilian Climate Corp can’t wait.”
 
The Civilian Climate Corps will administer a large national service program and provide simplified and enhanced grants to scale up the existing network of over 130 local and state service and conservation corps. This unique combination of a federal program and partnerships with community organizations, all under the same umbrella, will leverage the network and local expertise of new and existing “Partner Corps” while at the same time rapidly developing a large number of service projects. 65 percent of voters across the United States support the creation of the Civilian Climate Corps.
 
Click HERE for the witness testimony of Tyson Bertone-Riggs, Coalition Director for the Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition, and HERE for the witness testimony of Mark Paul, Assistant Professor of Economics and Environmental Studies, New College of Florida Fellow, Berggruen Institute, University of Southern California.
 
Click HERE for a testimony for the record from America’s Service Commissions and Service Year.