Washington, D.C. — Today, President Joe Biden announced a series of actions that will help communities suffering from the impacts of the climate crisis. They include extending an energy assistance program to help low-income households cool their homes; releasing funding for Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC), which helps states and local communities build climate-ready infrastructure; and pursuing the development of offshore wind in the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, which will move the United States closer to a 100 percent clean energy future. In response, Christy Goldfuss, senior vice president for Energy and Environment at the Center for American Progress, released the following statement:
It’s clear that communities are suffering from the consequences of the worsening climate crisis. Raging wildfires are endangering homes and lives. Record-setting heat waves are melting airport runways and obliterating other crucial infrastructure. Families are struggling to pay exorbitant utility bills due to the volatile price of fossil fuels, which caused these climate catastrophes.
After Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) single-handedly killed legislation that included investments to combat climate change, President Biden knows the burden falls on his administration to do all that it can with existing authority. Today was a step in that direction. President Biden painted a picture of a clean energy future that creates jobs while acknowledging the realities of the worsening crisis. We expect that this is just the beginning of sustained action and attention from the administration to protect the American people from the undeniable impacts of climate change.
For more information or to speak with an expert, please contact Sam Hananel at [email protected].