Is there anything else you would like to tell us about your plans to address the climate crisis, phase out fossil fuels, protect workers & communities, and end environmental racism?
Jessica Cisneros: Climate change is a local, national, and global issue that cannot be underestimated. When hundreds of Texans died during the freeze and subsequent power failure, we saw firsthand that Texas’s power grid is not equipped to endure the climate crisis. I know that our future and the next generation’s future is dependent on bold leaders who will step up to defend our planet. As climate change continues to worsen and threaten our health, safety, and prosperity, we see the global effects from our community right here in South Texas. Unfortunately, Congressman Cuellar has accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from the fossil fuel industry during his career and has consistently supported policies that roll back protections that keep our water drinkable, our air breathable, and our communities safe from environmental threats.
I support a Green New Deal because the way we address climate change needs to be as aggressive as the threat it poses. We need a just transition that empowers and guarantees opportunities for workers in the renewable energy industry, and I will be a voice for workers in the fossil fuel industry to ensure no one gets left behind. Texas is uniquely equipped with enough sunlight and wind to compliment each other and make a 100% renewable power grid cheaper and more reliable. Through a Green New Deal, we will create countless new jobs in our community and protect our planet and the future of South Texas while diversifying our workforce.
Henry Cuellar: No response
Additional answers from the MI-11 candidate questionnaire
Andy Levin: Climate change represents the number one existential threat that humanity faces. Ignoring it, or worse, denying it, represents a destructive hubris that will reverberate across generations. We have a moral obligation to ensure that the planet our children and our grandchildren will inherit not only survives but also thrives.
Sadly, there is little chance that at the current rate of sea level rise, ocean temperature increase, rapid deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, and frequency of devastating storms we will be able to pass on anything other than a world ravaged by climate change.
But this is more than an environmental issue. Our families, our livelihoods, our economies all depend on solutions where everyone–especially vulnerable, minority, and job transition affected communities–benefit from all efforts to halt the effects of climate destruction.
I am committed to doing my part. That’s why in Congress, I have been a champion in calling for us to move away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy urgently and creatively. The fastest and most just path to decarbonization is to make sure that our investments in renewable energy include strong labor standards that will create good-paying union jobs. We must facilitate a just transition to renewable energy to ensure that Black, Brown, and Indigenous workers are not left behind.
I have introduced numerous key bills to contribute to this transition, including:
H.R. 5770, the EV Freedom Act (Co-lead: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez). Establishes a national network of publicly available electric vehicle charging stations along public roads and the National Highway System in the United States;
H.R. 2038, the BUILD GREEN Infrastructure and Jobs Act (Co-lead: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; Senate companion co-leads: Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey). Invests $500 billion to provide grants to states, local governments, and other entities for capital investments in electrified surface transportation infrastructure projects;
H.R. 3607, the Buy Green Act (Senate companion introduced by Sen. Elizabeth Warren). Establishes a $1.5 trillion Clean Energy Fund at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and allows DOE to transfer amounts from the fund to federal agencies for clean energy-related purchases; and
H.R. 3605, the Sustainable Investment Policies Act (Co-leads: Reps. Cindy Axne, Brendan Boyle, and Chuy Garcia). Promotes disclosure and transparency of sustainable investment policies by large asset managers like those focusing on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors.
On lists that define the core list of Green New Deal bills as being seven including my BUILD Green Act, I am one of only 27 members of Congress signed onto every bill. I promote these bills because they directly and forcefully address the needs of the frontline communities who are experiencing the impacts of the climate crisis first and worst.
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