Murray, Western Democratic Senators Push for Landmark Climate Action Investment

This afternoon, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), the Assistant Democratic Leader, was joined by Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Michael Bennet (D-CO), and Alex Padilla (D-CA) for a video press call on the urgent need for a landmark investment in climate action through Senate Democrats’ Build Back Better budget, particularly as the Western United States has seen a dramatic increase in extreme weather as a result of the climate crisis.

The Build Back Better budget the Senators are currently negotiating is positioned to be the most significant investment in climate action in history—instituting a sweeping Clean Electricity Payment Program (CEPP) that would move the country’s utilities toward renewable sources, groundbreaking clean energy and vehicle tax incentives, a Civilian Climate Corps, climate-smart agriculture and wildfire prevention and forestry, the federal procurement of clean technologies, the weatherization and electrification of buildings, and the creation of a Clean Energy Accelerator. The proposed provisions would help meet President Biden’s goal to achieve 80% clean electricity and cut carbon emissions economy-wide by 50% by 2030, all while promoting environmental justice and creating millions of good paying, union jobs.

Western Democratic Senators were also instrumental in passing the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act which includes a $65 billion investment in clean energy, $7.5 billion investment electric vehicles (EVs) and EV infrastructure, a $21 billion investment in environmental remediation as well as other environmental justice provisions, and more than $50 billion towards climate resiliency improvements, including $8 billion for wildfire recovery and prevention efforts.