Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal Falls Short on Climate, to Build Back Better the Senate Must Move Forward with Reconciliation

Today, Evergreen Action Executive Director Jamal Raad released the following statement on the newly released details of the bipartisan infrastructure deal:  

“By every metric, the bipartisan infrastructure deal falls short of President Biden’s mandate to build a thriving clean energy economy and fails to meet his own climate commitments to the international community. It has been clear from the very beginning that the bipartisan framework would be insufficient on climate, but the revelation that the bill would contain even less money for electric buses and transit than the meager investments that negotiators had originally committed to is further evidence that Democrats must pass an ambitious reconciliation package to meet this moment. Instead of going backwards on climate, Congress must commit to building back better by delivering on President Biden’s full climate agenda.

“As August recess approaches, Congressional Democrats must remain focused on passing their $3.5 trillion infrastructure deal with the full suite of essential climate investments: including an clean electricity payment program that fulfills the goals of a clean electricity standard, long-term clean energy tax credits, a Civilian Climate Corps, investments in environmental justice, more funding for clean infrastructure and manufacturing, and the repeal of fossil fuel subsidies. The fate of our economy and our climate rest on our ability to deliver those investments in full. Climate leaders in Congress should not allow the bipartisan deal to advance without a guarantee that the reconciliation package will do so.”

When the bipartisan infrastructure framework was announced in June, negotiators committed to invest $7.5 billion in electric buses and transit. Today, when details of the plan were released, only $2.5 billion was allocated for electric buses, with polluting buses and ferries eligible for the remaining $5 billion. 

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