Tell your Members of Congress: Pass All Climate Amendments to Spending Bills
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Call Script
My name is __________. I am a constituent, and my zip code is _______. I am a member of Indivisible SF.
We are glad that the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Subcommittee has not abandoned President Biden’s goal of significant action to address our climate emergency as soon as possible, in spite of Republican shenanigans that wooed some Democrats away from passing the Build Back Better Act in full. Please support all the amendments that the subcommittee's task forces propose to address the climate emergency in every spending bill going forward.
Background
Yes, the Progressive Caucus was right, Republican corporate donors managed to seduce enough Democrats to split President Biden’s comprehensive Build Back Better Act, which was actually bipartisan in the sense that both Democratic and Republican voters supported it, to carve out the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework, bipartisan only in the sense that because big corporate donors approved, it got the votes of some Congressional Republicans. That was depressing to watch, but one big plus this time is that a lot more people were able to see what happened. We congratulate Progressive Chair Pramila Jayapal for standing up strongly to defend President Biden’s full agenda and making it clear to more Americans how duplicitous some senators and Congressional representatives can be when it comes to taking decisive action on the climate emergency, the care economy, and more equitable taxation.
Thank goodness that the Sustainable Energy and Environment Subcommittee (a coalition of seventy-nine climate-conscious House Democrats) has formed three task forces to do their best to include robust climate action in all must-pass legislation, including annual policy and appropriations bills.
The Climate and National Security Task Force was formed to propose climate-related amendments to the annual defense policy and defense appropriations bills. It is co-chaired by representatives James R. Langevin (RI) and Katie Porter (CA).
This task force is working on our long-standing goal: to have national defense funding bills address the climate emergency as a crucial national security issue. We sent the co-chairs a copy of the letter ISF sent to our Members of Congress (co-signed by 53 grassroots organizations representing over 15,000 constituents nationwide) calling for a National Defense Appropriations Bill for the 21st century that recognizes climate change as an urgent threat, with detailed suggestions for defense expenditures to address it immediately.
The Power Sector Task Force, co-chaired by representatives Sean Casten and Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL) will be looking for ways to include more ambitious clean energy goals in the bipartisan infrastructure law without getting blocked by big donor lobbyists.
The Climate and Agriculture task force will be working on the Agriculture appropriations bill and later in the year on the “Farm Bill.” Co-chairs are representatives Chellie Pingree (ME) and Kim Schrier (WA.)
References
House Democrats to launch three climate task forces - The Washington Post, 1/26/22
House Democrats announce three task forces on climate - CNNPolitics, 1/26/22
ISF's Formal Letter to our MoC's expressing our disappointment over their support for a flawed NDAA, 1/20/20.
Joe Manchin campaign gets big donations from corporations, executives, CNBC, 1/31/22
https://shero.substack.com/p/sinema-gets-another-big-haul-from from GOP Donors. The latest fourth-quarter FEC filings reveal that Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema has amassed $1.6 million in 2024 campaign contributions, primarily from larger, Conservative donors. 1/31/22, Amy Venderpool