House Passes Build Back Better Act

Phoenix - Today, the US House passed President Biden’s Build Back Better Act (BBBA), sending the jobs and climate measure to the United States Senate. The BBBA is the most significant investments in climate and clean energy in U.S. History. Today’s vote is a major step on our path to reducing the carbon pollution that drives climate change – while creating jobs and lowering energy costs for millions. The Senate must move swiftly to pass the House passed BBBA and all its provisions.

In response to the passage of the BBBA, Mark Magaña, Founding President & CEO of GreenLatinos, issued the following statement:

“We have reached a moment of truth for climate action, Latino and other communities of color are living through the impacts of climate-related severe weather conditions, wildfires, drought, extreme storms, and flooding, right now.

President Biden and Congressional leaders have responded to the moment with the Build Back Better Act (BBBA) that provides unprecedented investments on a path towards fighting this climate crisis, cutting carbon pollution, delivering action on environmental justice, reducing energy bills for working families, protecting hard working immigrants, and creating millions of quality union jobs.

While we did not get everything we wanted in this legislation, we are energized by this significant investment and more determined than ever to continue to fight for our communities and ensure that we get the full protection and investment we deserve.

We now turn to fight for the full passage of this important bill in the Senate. The Latino community needs action now, and we will keep the pressure on to ensure that this bill becomes law!.”

If signed into law, the BBBA would set the United States on a path to a 50-52% reduction in carbon pollution by 2030. That’s the same goal scientists say is necessary to prevent the worst impacts of climate change. Time is running out, Latinos need all of our elected officials to support the Build Back Better Act. We need to act now on climate.

Here are the environmental and climate provisions included in this historic legislation:

• CLIMATE POLICIES: That put the U.S. on the path to cutting our climate pollution in half by 2030, invest directly in communities of color too often left behind, and create good-paying union jobs.

• HOME EFFICIENCY: $3.5 billion for the Weatherization Assistance Program to help low-income households increase energy efficiency and reduce bills and emissions.

• GRID MODERNIZATION: $5 billion in grants for resiliency, $5 billion for innovative reliability upgrades, with $1 billion aimed at for rural communities

• ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Tax credits for consumers who purchase EVs of up to $12,500 per vehicle.  These incentives would have a critical impact on climate and air pollution by inducing rapid market transformation, and improve air quality in high traffic areas.

• ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING: $5 billion to help states deploy EV charging infrastructure + $2.5 billion in competitive grants for EV charging and other alternative fuel infrastructure.

• ORPHANED WELLS: $4.7 billion to plug methane leaks and remediate environmental damage at abandoned oil and gas wells.

• WATER: $10 billion dollars to replace lead service lines, lead in school water, and for removing lead pipes from small water systems, combined with the bipartisan infrastructure bill funding, will be the most significant funding for removing lead in drinking water in U.S. history. In addition, $225 million dollars will be invested into a low-income water assistance program to help millions of families facing water shutoffs.

• OCEAN AND COASTAL RESTORATION: $9 billion for coastal restoration with no matching requirements, and $4.1 billion for cleaning up our ports, including electrifying our ports will leverage the climate mitigation of our coastal ecosystems, coastal community resilience, and improve air quality for our communities.

• RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT: Nearly $30 billion in to deliver additional tools to cut emissions across the economy and keep US workers and industries ahead of the curve in global energy market

• JOB TRAINING: BBB Act training programs will prepare workers for high-quality jobs in fast-growing sectors like public health, childcare, manufacturing, IT, and clean energy.

GreenLatinos is an active comunidad of Latino/a/x leaders, emboldened by the power and wisdom of our culture, united to demand equity and dismantle racism, resourced to win our environmental, conservation, and climate justice battles, and driven to secure our political, economic, cultural, and environmental liberation.

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