Tell Members of Congress: Infrastructure Legislation MUST Seriously Address the Climate Emergency!

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Call Script

Short Phone Version:

My name is __________. I am a constituent, and my zip code is _______. I am a member of Indivisible SF. Infrastructure legislation must be passed this year to effectively address the climate emergency. Killer heat waves, devastating storms, mega-droughts, raging wildfires, floods and the threat of global famine menace us today. Unless you take decisive action now it will only get worse. Do not compromise our children’s future!

We need:

A robust Civilian Climate Corps.
Strong and enforceable renewable energy standards and policies.
Fully funded programs and investments to shift our economy from fossil fuels to clean and renewable energy sources.
An immediate end to subsidies and tax breaks for fossil fuels.
Measures to force polluting industries to pay for environmental clean up.

Public infrastructure must be owned by the public and operated for the public interest. I oppose Republican proposals and Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework (BIF) provisions to sell off public infrastructure to private investors (“asset recycling”), “public-private” investment partnerships (P3s), private activity bonds (PABs), and other schemes that rely on, incentivize, or encourage privatization of infrastructure. Infrastructure investment must be paid for by repealing Trump’s corporate tax breaks and give-aways to the obscenely wealthy.

Finally, end the filibuster and don’t take an August recess without addressing voting rights and infrastructure.

Longer Email/ResistBot Version:

My name is __________. I am a constituent, and my zip code is _______. I am a member of Indivisible SF. The first week he was in office, President Biden declared, “The United States and the world face a profound climate crisis. We have a narrow moment to pursue action at home and abroad in order to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of that crisis and to seize the opportunity that tackling climate change presents.”

Bold, strong, and effective climate emergency-related infrastructure legislation must be passed this year! Killer heat waves, devastating storms, mega-droughts, raging wildfires, floods and the threat of global famine menace us today. Unless you take decisive action now, it will only get worse. Do not compromise our children’s future!

We need:

A robust and fully-funded Civilian Climate Corps (CCC) to conserve and restore public lands and waters, bolster community resilience, increase reforestation, increase carbon sequestration in the agricultural sector, protect biodiversity, improve access to recreation, and address the changing climate.
Strong and enforceable renewable energy standards and policies such as those outlined in the American Renewable Energy Act (AREA).
Fully funded programs and investments to shift our economy from fossil fuels to clean and renewable energy sources such as those originally proposed by President Biden in the American Jobs Plan (AJP).
An immediate end to subsidies and tax breaks for fossil fuels, and effective measures to force polluting industries to pay for environmental clean up as proposed by President Biden in the American Jobs Plan (AJP).

Public infrastructure must be owned by the public and operated for the public interest. I strongly oppose Republican proposals and Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework (BIF) provisions to sell off public infrastructure to private investors (“asset recycling”), public-private investment partnerships (P3s), private activity bonds (PABs), and other schemes that rely on, incentivize, or encourage privatization of infrastructure. Decades of experience have proven that private ownership and control of public infrastructure by corporate cronies result in the public being gouged by higher tolls, excess fees, shoddy service, substandard maintenance, and employee exploitation and abuse. Infrastructure investment can be, and must be, paid for by repealing Trump’s corporate tax breaks and giveaways to the obscenely wealthy.

Finally, end the filibuster and do not take an August recess without addressing voting rights and infrastructure.

Background

It is now incontrovertible that the multiple global warming climate crises we face are a direct result of the human-caused increase in greenhouse gases. The obvious results of global warming are:

Intensifying maximum & minimum temperatures (lethal heat waves & freezing cold)
Rising sea levels & coastal inundation (massive threat to civic, commercial & private properties)
More frequent, and more intense, droughts (shortages of drinking water and food supplies)
Higher ocean temperatures and acidity (collapse of essential fisheries)
More frequent and more intense hurricanes & tornadoes (deaths and property destruction)
Significantly increased precipitation (floods and erosion)
More frequent and more intense wildfires (deaths and property destruction)
Permafrost thawing (release of long dormant pathogens and yet more greenhouse gases)
Hunger, migration, and warfare due to drought, climate shift, desertification, and lethal storms

President Biden’s American Jobs Plan (AJP), American Family Plan (AFP), and Made in America Tax Plan (MATP) proposed the minimum first steps we need to begin addressing the climate crises. Even though large bipartisan public majorities support Biden’s proposals, Republicans opposed them across the board and threatened to kill them by filibuster. Led by Manchin (D-WV), the five most conservative Democratic senators joined the five least Trumpite Republican senators to propose a “Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework” (BIF) that essentially eliminated almost all of the progressive elements in Biden’s proposals. Their BIF is narrowly focused on infrastructure repair (“steel and concrete”) projects that will provide windfall profits to construction companies but do little to fight global warming. Their hope is that corporate donors from Big Construction can convince enough Republicans to break a filibuster to pass the BIF.

Biden and Pelosi promised that after the BIF is enacted as a “bipartisan” bill, they will then pass the climate, housing, health, family support, and other provisions from Biden’s plans in a Democrats-only “reconciliation” bill. But to do that requires total unity among all 50 Democratic senators, and progressives fear that once the BIF is enacted with its corporate spending gifts to big donors, conservative Democrats won’t vote for the follow-on reconciliation bill with its social policies, higher corporate taxes, and increased regulations. Biden/Pelosi will then sadly admit defeat and urge us to donate ever more money to the Democratic Party for the upcoming midterm elections. Progressives point out that if there actually are 50 Democratic senators willing to vote for a reconciliation bill, why bother with the BIF two-step? Why not just put it all in the reconciliation bill and pass it all at once?

References

President Biden’s “Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad”: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/27/executive-order-on-tackling-the-climate-crisis-at-home-and-abroad/

The American Jobs Plan: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/03/31/fact-sheet-the-american-jobs-plan/

Made in America Tax Plan: https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/MadeInAmericaTaxPlan_Report.pdf

FACT SHEET: President Biden Announces Support for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/06/24/fact-sheet-president-biden-announces-support-for-the-bipartisan-infrastructure-framework/

The Civilian Climate Corps (CCC), Explained (Sunrise Movement): https://www.sunrisemovement.org/theory-of-change/the-ccc-explained/

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