Senators Ed Markey & Jeff Merkley statements today are latest signal that infrastructure deals can’t pass without climate action

Washington D.C. – Today, Senators Ed Markey (D-MA) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) made clear that the Senate majority will not move forward on any infrastructure package that doesn’t take bold action to stop the climate crisis, create clean energy jobs, and bring environmental justice to frontline communities. Their clear statements that ‘no climate means no deal’ come as Republicans are still focused on plans that fail to invest in the clean energy jobs critical to stopping the worst of the climate crisis while increasing pollution and causing harm to working families.

“Our leaders are drawing the line because inaction is no longer an option: no climate, no deal,” said Lori Lodes, Climate Power Executive Director. “Congressional Republicans’ plans do nothing to address the threat of climate change and will actually increase pollution. Instead, they want to raise taxes on working families, protect polluters over people, and leave communities vulnerable to extreme weather that is on our doorstep. The American Jobs Plan will create millions of good paying, clean energy jobs and bring justice to communities on the frontlines of this crisis. Anything less fails to meet what the moment requires.”

Today’s conversation took place as the coming months are expected to produce 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.