NRDC President: Historic Climate Progress Must be Enacted

WASHINGTON – White House and congressional negotiators agreed to a framework for the budget reconciliation package that will pair with bipartisan infrastructure legislation to enact the core of President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda.

Manish Bapna, president and CEO of NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), made the following statement:

“This is historic progress when we need it most, the nation’s strongest climate investment ever. Once enacted, this will provide a record $550 billion to help advance the shift to cleaner, smarter ways to power our future.

"Combined with new and ambitious carbon pollution standards, and Biden’s whole-of-government approach, this sets the country on the path to cut greenhouse gas emissions 50-52 percent - and get 80 percent clean electricity - by 2030. It will invest in the communities on the front lines of climate hazard and harm, as Justice40 requires. And it positions the United States to play a leadership role at global climate talks in Glasgow.

“Congress must now move swiftly to enact these measures, to turn the promise of this sweeping accord into the progress the country so urgently needs.”

NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world's natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, and Beijing. Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC.