climate + the budget reconciliation bill
why we must pass the most progressive legislation since the New Deal
A recent report by the IPCC warned that even if we drastically cut our carbon emissions, the globe will exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming by the year 2040. The IPCC emphasizes that 1.5°C is a limit we should try not to exceed and it is the agreed upon number by members of the Paris Climate Agreement as well. But it is far from ideal. The current level of warming has already caused irreversible damage to sea levels with melting ice sheets from Greenland to Antarctica that will never be restored. We’re seeing heat waves like never before. Hurricanes are strengthening due to warmer waters. There is a serious possibility that we will reach or exceed 2°C, at which point the effects on our global ecosystem will be magnitudes more severe. With these facts in mind, the way forward is clear. We must take swift and bold action to defend against the worst case scenario. We must avoid at all costs, the scorching reality of a 2°C world.
It is unquestioningly necessary to pass legislation that meets this challenge. Not only does the climate crisis loom over us, but millions of people face eviction, half a million are homeless, rent is too high for a minimum wage worker anywhere in the US, people lack access to education while others are crippled by student loan debt, and health care is not only not free, unlike every other major country on Earth, but exorbitantly expensive. Insulin is as high $350 a vial. In order to rise to meet the climate challenge, we need to invest in the needs of our people. While we are worried about surviving the devastations of climate change, we should not be worried about losing our homes or feeding our kids.
Simply put, we need to enact legislation of New Deal proportions, and thankfully, a majority of Democrats in Congress are prepared to do so with a 3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill introduced by Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York. Sanders calls it
"the most consequential piece of legislation for working families since FDR and the New Deal of the 1930s"
and it contains many policies he has advocated for. While he initially floated a 6 trillion dollar bill, more conservative Democrats shot it down, settling tentatively on 3.5 trillion. Currently, it is only a resolution with a September 15th deadline for the various committees to submit their pieces of legislation for the bill. It will then be bundled into one big package for Congress to vote on. There is still much discussion to be had on the final policies, as the bill faces obstruction from conservative Democrats who insist the bill be voted on separately from the bipartisan infrastructure bill and some of whom don’t support the cost of the bill.
This kind of conservative leaning has kept Democrats from supporting more progressive policies and in the past would have weakened this bill significantly. This time around it will not go unchallenged. The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) and members of The Squad, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and others are wielding their political power to ensure the passage of the bill in its current form. All have vowed not to vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill unless the Senate passes the budget bill first. This would hold the more conservative Democrats accountable to passing the boldest legislation possible and not shirking because there will be no consequences. While Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi has held firm to passing the two bills together, she agreed to have the House vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill by September 27th in a compromise with the obstructionists.
Let’s think back to the IPCC report. Reducing the scope in any way of the bill proposed is not an option in regards to the action we need to take on climate. It is the bare minimum that we can do. The climate portion of the bill contains many elements of the Green New Deal and while it doesn’t go as far as many of us would like, it would be the most progressive action on climate we’ve ever taken. The bill proposes putting together a Civilian Climate Corps a la FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps in the original New Deal. A Civilian Climate Corps (CCC) is a concept that has been advocated for by the Sunrise Movement, and adopted by Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts, whose plan for a CCC is the most ambitious yet. According to the Sunrise Movement,
“If passed into law, it would signify the beginning of the decade of the Green New Deal.”
The Civilian Climate Corps as described on Markey’s website:
“A diverse and equitable group of 1.5 million Americans over five years will complete federally-funded projects that help communities respond to climate change and transition to a clean economy. Civilian Climate Corps work will reduce carbon emissions, enable a transition to renewable energy, build healthier and more resilient communities, implement conservation projects with proven climate benefits, and help communities recover from climate disasters.”
Additionally, Corpsmembers will receive:
Compensation of at least $15 per hour
Full health care coverage for participants and dependents
Support for critical services like transportation, housing and childcare.
Tax-free educational grants of $25,000 per year of service (up to $50,000) to be used for student loan debt payments or higher education.
This is just one solution to fighting climate change while providing over a million jobs. The budget bill also proposes electrifying the federal fleet and federal buildings, investing in clean transportation, climate research, green materials, energy efficient buildings, clean water, conservation and forestry, consumer rebates, and a Clean Electricity Payment Program to incentivize businesses to do their part. It proposes many of the actions we need to take to transition our energy system away from fossil fuels and instead fuel our infrastructure and transportation with renewable energy sources. The Civilian Climate Corps would be on the ground in their local communities helping us achieve this goal.
In addition to a good start towards reducing emissions, the bill includes some other progressive policies Bernie Sanders has long been fighting for:
Expanding Medicare to include dental, vision, hearing benefits and lowering the eligibility age
Universal pre-K
Expanding the 2021 child tax credit (CTC) which offers up to $3000 per child 6-17 and up to $3600 for every younger child into the foreseeable future
Paid family leave
Tuition free community college
Affordable housing
And it has a specific mandate to not raise taxes on people making less than $400K, small businesses, or family farms.
Democrats hold a slim majority and won the 2020 election narrowly. Progressives have spent a long time frustrated at seeing corporate Democrats not do enough, especially when it’s largely because they are pursuing their own financial interests, like Manchin, the so called “KingMaker”, who meets with an Exxon Mobil lobbyist regularly (every week) alongside bestie Kyrsten Sinema and other Democratic Senators. We’ve been screaming from the rooftops that they have to go bold or they will provide no reason for people to vote for them again, other than, “they’re not Trump.” They’re not the anti-masking anti-vaxxer Ivermectin-taking people. That’s great but at the end of the day if people see no meaningful changes in their lives, it is unlikely they will win again. They may lose in 2022 and 2024. And with the amount of voter suppression laws that have successfully been passed by Republicans of late, it’s going to be even harder to win. But in an unusual shift towards the left wing of the party, Pelosi seems to finally understand this.
"We cannot squander this majority and this Democratic White House by not passing what we need to do," Pelosi told Democrats in a private caucus meeting Monday. "Right now, we have an opportunity to pass something so substantial for our country, so transformative we haven’t seen anything like it."
Ladies and gentleman, if Republicans dominate all 3 branches again, we are looking at a 2°C future. And we simply cannot let that happen. FDR’s New Deal had significant returns on investment and lead to Democrats holding power from the 1930s to the 1960s. Seniors didn’t have Social Security until FDR started that policy. Once these policies are enacted, people come to appreciate them as they experience the material benefits in their own lives. We have a very short period to make an impact that will allow us to stay in power, fighting the climate crisis into the 2030s and beyond, but not unless we are prepared to meet this moment.
It is heartening that President Biden and Speaker of the House Pelosi are aligned on passing the reconciliation bill. They are finally taking a page out of the Republican playbook and using the same process the Senate used to give the ultra wealthy tax cuts in 2017. We have to appreciate the progress that has been made and the fact that the Overton Window has shifted over these last 5 years. There’s a timeline somewhere where Bernie never ran for President, where the progressive movement and Justice Democrats never formed, where Joe Crowley and Eliot Engel are still representatives. But we are here instead, in a much better timeline, where our Congresspeople support bold policies like the Green New Deal and will sleep on the steps of the Capitol if need be to make sure people don’t get evicted.
While the climate portion of the reconciliation bill is not at Green New Deal proportions, it’s still the most progressive proposal by Democrats in a very long time. Passing the bill would be a win for children, families, seniors, those with low income, future students, and jobseekers and starts the process of drastically reducing emissions and maintaining a level of warming below 1.5°C. It cannot be overstated how critical it is to start acting now. But we should never stop fighting and expanding on green policy. We should dare to dream greener dreams.