Washington (December 4, 2024) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Chair of the Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate, and Nuclear Safety, along with Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) and Melanie Stansbury (NM-01), today sent a letter to President Biden, thanking him for his leadership on climate issues and urging the administration to continue delivering on its key climate priorities.
In the letter, the lawmakers also urge the administration to continue its efforts to swiftly disburse key Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds for climate and clean energy programs; express support for efforts to protect communities from dangerous, expensive, and unnecessary fossil fuel projects; express support for the release of necessary guidance for climate and clean energy tax credits and other programs that provide continuity and certainty for stakeholders; and detail how members will continue to fight to protect working-class Americans from climate change, pollution, and high energy costs through collaboration in the coming years.
The lawmakers wrote, “At a time of great uncertainty and threats to so many integral parts of American life and liberties, we are united in our determination to protect working-class Americans from climate change, pollution, and high energy costs. If faced with obstruction, denial, or delay from those who should lead us into a safe and livable future, we will collaborate between chambers of Congress, with state and local leaders, with labor unions, with innovators in the private sector, and with international partners. And after fighting for and winning so many historic climate solutions, we will continue to celebrate and protect the many ways in which climate action already makes our communities better places to live, work, and grow up—from building greener, safer streets to lowering energy bills.”
The letter was co-signed in the Senate by Senators Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and in the House of Representatives by Representatives Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-07), Jared Huffman (CA-02), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Sean Casten (IL-06, Nanette Barragán (CA-44), Summer Lee (PA-12), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (CA-37), Cori Bush (MO-01), Julia Brownley (CA-26), Barbara Lee (CA-12), Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Erica Lee Carter (TX-18), Madeleine Dean (PA-04), Ro Khanna (CA-17), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Delia Ramirez (IL-03), Jamaal Bowman (NY-16), Nydia Velázquez (NY-07), Mike Levin (CA-49), Jim McGovern (MA-02), Hank Johnson (GA-04), Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), Al Green (TX-09), Becca Balint (VT), Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), Jesús G. “Chuy” García (IL-04), Alma Adams Ph.D. (NC-12), Robert Garcia (CA-42), Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01), Mark DeSaulnier (CA-10), Valerie Foushee (NC-04), Maxwell Frost (FL-10), Jamie Raskin (MD-08), Frederica Wilson (FL-24), Jerrold Nadler (NY-12), Kevin Mullin (CA-15), Lauren Underwood (IL-14), Grace Meng (NY-06), Sara Jacobs (CA-51), Adam Smith (WA-09), Juan Vargas (CA-52), Mark Takano (CA-39), Jonathan Jackson (IL-01), and Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05).
The Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law have together created the largest and most significant climate and clean energy investments in history, putting the United States on a path to address the climate crisis, repair historic harms to disadvantaged communities, create good-paying union jobs in the clean energy economy, and work towards a Green New Deal future. In the two years since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, more than 330,000 new jobs have been created and more than $370 billion in investments have been announced nationwide—more than three-quarters of which is going to projects in Republican-held districts. Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) introduced the Green New Deal in Congress five years ago, which has galvanized climate action, catapulted environmental justice to the top of the national agenda, and helped deliver historic victories.
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