Washington, D.C. — Today, a bipartisan task force of state, local, and tribal officials from across the United States called on President Barack Obama and federal agencies to do more to help communities cope with the rising risks of flooding, extreme storms, drought, heat waves, and other effects of climate change.
Carol M. Browner, Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, issued the following statement on the State, Local, and Tribal Leaders Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience’s report to the president:
Climate change affects our communities on everything from public health to public services. Even as we move to curb carbon pollution through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan and other actions, more extreme weather and other climate impacts are undermining the infrastructure of our communities, draining scarce resources from other priorities, and straining local budgets. This report includes specific recommendations on how to improve collaboration between the federal government and state, local, and tribal officials to strengthen infrastructure and manage the escalating risks of flooding, drought, extreme heat, storms, and other public health and safety threats fueled by changes in our climate that are already underway.
The new report offers the most comprehensive set of recommendations from state, local, and tribal officials to date on how the federal government can help build resilient, safe, and healthy communities that will allow all Americans to prosper. The report will be a useful yardstick for measuring the adequacy of congressional budgets and spending bills.
To read the full task force report, click here.
The report reinforces community resilience recommendations from the following Center for American Progress reports:
For more information on this topic, contact Tom Caiazza at 202.481.7141 or tcaiazza@americanprogress.org.
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