Rep. Mike Levin & Over 100 House Democrats Push House Leadership to Prioritize Tackling Climate Crisis & Prevent Rollbacks on Environmental Progress
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Watch the full press conference here
Washington, D.C.- Today, Rep. Mike Levin (CA-49) was joined by Members of the House Democratic Caucus to announce that 111 House Democrats signed his letter to Speaker Mike Johnson (LA-04) and Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08) urging House Leadership to prioritize policies that tackle the climate crisis and prevent rollbacks on environmental progress.
The letter highlights that over the past several years federal climate and energy policies passed by Democrats have lowered energy costs for consumers, reduced pollution, and created more than 334,000 clean energy jobs. The letter also urges House Leadership to defend climate progress and warns against undoing policies that are transitioning our economy into the 21st century and building our country’s resilience against climate threats.
Full text of letter is here and below:
Dear Speaker Johnson and Leader Jeffries,
Over the past several years, we have made significant progress in addressing the climate crisis, investing in the clean energy economy, lowering energy costs, and protecting public health. These investments are delivering tangible benefits for families and workers across the country, including in the districts we represent. As Members of Congress, we stand ready to defend these hard-fought gains and, importantly, to keep working together to address the climate crisis with the urgency it demands. In the 119th Congress, we urge you to build on these investments and improve the lives of the American people, while ensuring that the United States remains a global leader in energy, technology, and manufacturing.
The climate crisis is a present and future danger to public health and well-being, national security, and the economy. Climate pollution is exacerbating health challenges and limiting quality of life for families across the country, especially in communities historically overburdened by pollution. Every fraction of a degree of warming increases the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events – the climate crisis is fueling increasingly severe floods and storms, ravaging wildfires, extreme drought and water shortages, heatwaves, and sea level rise. All of these catastrophes threaten lives, put our communities and infrastructure at risk, and cost the American taxpayers. The United States now experiences, on average, a billion-dollar weather or climate disaster every three weeks.
The progress we’ve made is delivering real results for our constituents and communities across the United States. Over the past several years, federal climate and clean energy policies have helped lower energy costs for consumers and reduce pollution while delivering important co-benefits for air and water quality as well as public health. We have helped create more than 334,000 clean energy jobs in the past two years – with $161 billion invested specifically in Republican Congressional districts – and are projected to support approximately 1.5 million jobs in the next decade. Over the past four years, we have kickstarted an unprecedented revival of American manufacturing and catalyzed nearly $1 trillion in private sector investments in the clean energy economy that has been embraced by industry and our global partners. We cannot afford to reverse course.
We have proven that ambitious, consumer-driven climate policies can simultaneously address the climate crisis and build a stronger economy, strengthen U.S. competitiveness abroad, and bolster our nation’s national and energy security. Under Democratic leadership and an all-of-government approach to tackling the climate crisis, we have turbocharged the clean energy economy nationwide, accelerated new domestic manufacturing, cut health-harming climate pollution across sectors, and invested in our most vulnerable and disadvantaged communities. These efforts have fortified U.S. energy independence, reduced reliance on adversarial nations for critical resources, and spurred transformative investments in renewable energy and zero-emission transportation. By investing in equitable climate solutions, we are also investing in our national security and ability to address challenges head-on.
The real-world costs of undoing the progress we have made are devastating and far-reaching. By investing in a modernized, clean energy economy we have delivered on lower energy costs and diversified our energy supply while building community and infrastructure resilience. We have an obligation to future generations — and to ourselves— to not only defend that progress, but to continue to reduce global emissions and avoid the worst harms of climate change. We are committed to continue lowering costs for families, transitioning our economy to the 21st century, and building our resilience to climate threats.
We are united in our determination to protect the progress we’ve made and will continue to work in the 119th Congress to bolster American competitiveness and national security while striving to achieve clean air, clean water, livable communities, and a healthy planet for all.
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