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FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE                                                           
  OCT. 1, 2021 Contact: Bineshi Albert at 505-350-0851,
[email protected] / Olivia Burlingame at 301-613-4767,
[email protected]

-------------------------

FRONTLINES,GRASSROOTS GROUPS RESPOND TO BIPARTISAN INFRASTRUCTURE BILL VOTE
DELAY: CONGRESS MUST PASS A FULL BUDGET THAT DOES NO HARM AND INVESTS IN
REAL SOLUTIONS 

As Congress delayed a vote last night on the bipartisan infrastructure
bill, blowing past an artificial deadline set by Democratic leaders,
grassroots organizations urge members of Congress to continue to deliver on
climate solutions, care investments, and justice and to hold the line
against dirty energy investments that harm communities in the full budget
reconciliation package.

ORGANIZATIONS IN THE UNITED FRONTLINE TABLE (OF WHICH CJA IS A FOUNDING
MEMBER), REPRESENTING HUNDREDS OF GRASSROOTS GROUPS ACROSS THE UNITED
STATES AND U.S. TERRITORIES, RELEASE THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT TODAY:

The bipartisan infrastructure bill on its own will not provide equitable
recovery and investment for Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, Pacific
Islander, and poor communities. In fact the bill invests in fossil fuels
and false solutions that will continue to harm the most vulnerable. This
bill is not going to serve our communities. As Congress pivots back to
advance the budget reconciliation process, we recognize the budget
reconciliation bill too is only a start to the recovery we need out of deep
overlapping crises we face at this moment.

The combined bipartisan infrastructure bill and reconciliation budget–the
Build Back Better agenda–are both too much and not enough. The Build Back
Better package invests too much in false solutions, band-aid approaches,
unproven and potentially harmful technologies, and market-based schemes
that we know don’t work. And the package invests not enough in the
communities with critical needs. We need the full package, both the
bipartisan bill and the budget reconciliation package, but we need both to
be better.

Our analysis of the current combined budget and bipartisan infrastructure
bill estimates that over $181 billion in investments will go to false
solutions that could harm communities. Included in the bipartisan package
and the initial House reconciliation budget are investments for development
and deployment of carbon capture technology, nuclear energy, biofuels of
multiple forms, waste incineration, a Clean Energy Payment Program that
could incentivize harmful technologies, and funds to support continued
fossil fuel development and extraction.

As this budget package is finalized, we urge Congress to remove these
harmful investments. If these investments remain in the final Build Back
Better package, they will ensure that the next decade is full of harm and
increased climate chaos at a time when we must quickly and drastically
change course.

When it comes to stopping climate change, reducing emissions at source, and
safeguarding frontline communities, harmful investments will only further
exacerbate the interconnected environmental, economic, white supremacist
and democratic crisis we face. At this critical moment in history, we call
on members of Congress to lead in step with those communities most
impacted, and to not continue to cower to the same old fossil fuel
corporations putting neoliberal profit-driven ventures over comprehensive
solutions that actually solve these crises.

This budget also contains key funds grassroots communities have fought for,
and these must be defended by members of Congress in the days ahead. The
current House budget reconciliation bill includes massive investments that
are only on the table because the most impacted communities at the
grassroots organized and demanded them. It includes investments to expand
clean public transportation, upgrade school buildings, replace lead pipes
across the country, invest in home and community care, expand affordable
housing, reduce toxic pollution in communities, advance environmental
justice, and fund oversight and accountability of the entire budget
including ensuring funds go directly to the most disadvantaged communities.

These investments are in this package because our communities have fought
for them, but none of them are guaranteed until the budget is signed by the
President. We demand Congress maintain them at the highest levels, all the
way to the final version of the bill.

AS WE COME TO THE FINAL STRETCH OF THIS CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET PROCESS WE
CALL ON MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO IMMEDIATELY: 

AT A MINIMUM, REMOVE PUBLIC FUNDING AND INVESTMENTS IN THE DRAFT BUDGET
RECONCILIATION BILL AND THE BIPARTISAN INFRASTRUCTURE BILL THAT WILL
DEVASTATE AND FURTHER HARM OUR COMMUNITIES including financing for carbon
capture technology, nuclear energy, biofuels, waste incineration, and
continued fossil fuel development and extraction. This requires that all
fossil fuel subsidies within the package be removed.

MAINTAIN THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF INVESTMENT FOR THE DEPLOYMENT OF
JUSTLY-SOURCED, DISTRIBUTED RENEWABLE ENERGY, to reduce emissions at the
levels required to limit global warming to 1.5° Celsius or less, including
deploying wind and solar nation-wide, and investing in supports for a just
transition for impacted communities, including for rural electric
cooperatives.

PASS A RECONCILIATION BUDGET THAT MAINTAINS THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF
INVESTMENT FOR REAL COMMUNITY-DRIVEN SOLUTIONS — addressing roots causes
of the climate crisis, expanding public transit, investing in public and
affordable housing, expanding the care economy, establishing a path to
citizenship, expanding affordable public healthcare, tying investments to
equity and environmental justice standards, while stopping dirty energy.

ENSURE SET-ASIDES IN ALL PROGRAMS TO DIRECT AT LEAST 50 PERCENT OF ALL
PROGRAM FUNDS AND INVESTMENTS TO DISADVANTAGED FRONTLINE COMMUNITIES, to
meet and exceed the goals set forth in the Justice40 Initiative set forth
in Executive Order No. 14008.

INCLUDE STRONG OVERSIGHT OF THE FULL SCOPE OF SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, AND
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF ALL INVESTMENTS by the OMB and GAO, including
oversight of the distribution of public funds and the implementation of the
Justice40 Initiative, and strong consultation with community
stakeholders.”

Now is not the time for Democrats to cower to right-wing ideologues on
either side of the political aisle. Now is the time for bold action. If
Congress and the administration want to claim that this package is historic
on climate, jobs, and justice, then they must invest in real solutions to
climate, economic and racial crisis at the highest levels possible, and
ensure this budget is free of public investments that harm communities.

###

Climate Justice Alliance

PO BOX 10202
Berkeley, CA 94709
United States


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