Senate must move forward with bold climate action in lockstep with bipartisan infrastructure agreement

Washington, D.C. – After a bipartisan group of 10 senators announced a new framework to pass an infrastructure package, Climate Power noted that the deal must move in lockstep with bold climate action that creates millions of good-paying, union clean energy jobs, brings environmental justice to frontline communities and confronts climate change.

“This is our climate moment,” said Lori Lodes, Climate Power Executive Director. “Firefighters and first responders are using every tool they have to protect people and lessen the damage of wildfires, heatwaves, hurricanes, drought, and flooding. Congress needs to follow their example and do the same. They need to use every tool they have to make sure bold climate action moves simultaneously with any infrastructure bill.”

Today’s agreement was announced as the coming months are expected to produce even more extreme weather events. The Western United States is currently grappling with the worst drought in modern history, which has led to a record 27% of the entire West to be put in an ‘exceptional drought’ category. This week, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas announced that the record temperatures are leading to many power plant outages, with the grid being cut off from accessing 12,000 megawatts of generation that could power 2.4 million homes.  In the last four years, there have been 60 extreme weather or climate-related disasters that have caused more than 3,700 deaths and $500 billion in damages in just primary impacts.