Hey John,

ICYMI: The House finally passed the Build Back Better Act on Friday, November 19, and it includes a really important provision: a big investment in a Civilian Climate Corps that will create green, family-sustaining, union jobs in the communities hardest hit by the climate crisis.

For months, our movement has fought hard to make the CCC a reality. But its fate now rests in the Senate’s hands, and we know the pressure will be on Senate Democrats to “compromise” and further whittle down this bill.

To that, I say: At your peril.

If Democrats want to mobilize young voters next year, they must stand firm on passing a Build Back Better Act that keeps provisions like the Civilian Climate Corps intact. Take a few moments to read an op-ed I recently wrote for The Nation below on why.

In solidarity,

Miles

Democrats Must Stand Firm on Funding the Civilian Climate Corps
By Matthew Miles Goodrich
November 19, 2021

It’s been called the Great Resignation, as millions of workers opt out of degrading or potentially dangerous work under the shadow of Covid-19. But for the youngest segment of the workforce, it’s hardly a choice at all. In September, almost a full quarter of Americans ages 20 to 34 were not working or on the job hunt.

This should come as no surprise given the current job market and the fact that young people continue to suffer under the conditions of 21st-century capitalism, where college degrees are exchanged for unpaid internships and union membership remains anemic. What is surprising, however, is how the putative party of young people in Washington has responded—with a great resignation of its own.

After months of deliberations, the House of Representatives finally voted Friday to pass President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better Act. Missing from this iteration of the bill, however, are key provisions that would have improved the lives of young people: free community college, citizenship for undocumented immigrants, a clean electricity standard, and student loan forgiveness. All of these programs were slashed from the original bill to appeal to the most conservative members of the party.

It’s no wonder that youth turnout in Virginia’s gubernatorial election was down significantly.

If Democrats have a prayer in 2022, they’ll need to bring young people to the polls just as they did in 2020, when youth turnout reached a high-water mark. Fortunately, one key program in the Build Back Better Act has the potential to do so: the Civilian Climate Corps—assuming it survives its crucible in the Senate.

The CCC, as it’s called, is based on an experiment that happened some 90 years ago. Before climate-fueled conflagrations overtook homes in brimstone-black clouds, the Dust Bowl of the 1930s enveloped America’s farmland in squalls of dirt and debris. In response to this man-made agricultural disaster and eight-year drought, President Franklin D. Roosevelt launched a jobs program, backed by the federal government, to employ millions of young men in restoring farmlands in the hardest-hit states. The experiment worked. The Civilian Conservation Corps, known in the parlance of the New Deal as the CCC, revitalized the Midwest and rescued the American farmer from extinction.

While climate change poses an even greater threat to the nation’s livelihood than the Dust Bowl, however, Congress has not responded in kind. In the coming weeks, as Democrats on Capitol Hill continue to push through an eviscerated Build Back Better agenda, it is critical that they stand firm on funding for a modernized CCC.

You can read the rest here.

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