Gillibrand supports ‘Green New Deal’ to fight climate change crisis

Posted 8 February 2019 at 9:15 am

‘I urge my colleagues: Rise to this challenge, prevent the catastrophe, and pass a Green New Deal that protects and strengthens our country in this new, uncertain era.’ – Sen. Kirtsen Gillibrand

Press Release, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, on Thursday joined Senator Ed Markey (D-MA), Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14), and other members of the House and Senate to introduce a bold and ambitious resolution to set a framework for creating a Green New Deal for America.

The landmark bicameral resolution comes after Gillibrand’s public call to action in a letter last month to Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) Chairman John Barrasso (R-WY) urging him to make climate change, green jobs, and a sustainable economy a central part of the Committee’s agenda this Congress. Gillibrand’s Green New Deal legislation and her public call to action come amid overwhelming evidence that the climate change crisis is growing worse and can only be stopped with large-scale effort that mobilizes and transforms the entire economy.

“Climate change is real, it threatens us, and the evidence is now irrefutable that if we don’t act immediately to stop it, then our land, our water, our air, and our lives will all be upended in potentially catastrophic ways. There will be no going back. I urge my colleagues: Rise to this challenge, prevent the catastrophe, and pass a Green New Deal that protects and strengthens our country in this new, uncertain era,” said Senator Gillibrand.

“We can end the climate change crisis, we can dramatically modernize our economy, and we can create countless new jobs across the entire country that can’t be shipped overseas – but we can only do it if Congress seizes this opportunity and acts now, instead of wasting more time arguing about whether or not the problem is even real. We cannot wait another day. I urge all of my colleagues to fight with me for a Green New Deal that puts Americans to work to solve this extraordinary challenge.”

The landmark Green New Deal resolution calls on the Federal government to initiate a 10-year national mobilization to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions; create millions of good, high-wage union jobs and guarantee a job to every American; invest in infrastructure and transform our transportation sector; secure clean air and water, climate resiliency, healthy food, access to nature, and a sustainable environment for current and future generations; and promote justice and equity for oppressed and marginalized people and communities.

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