After failed attempts to pass climate provisions in recent reconciliation bill negotiations, Democratic lawmakers have shared both frustration and willingness to take what they can get after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) took the issue off the table.
Sen. Heinrich (D-NM) is one of several senators calling on the president, and the entire nation, to take stronger action.
“We need to be doing climate all the time now. ... We’ve reached a point where our climate is truly at a tipping point,” Heinrich said on Meet the Press Now. “We need to be acting with every single opportunity — whether that’s the administration, whether that’s Congress, whether that's state and local leadership.”
The president announced $2.3 billion in funding for FEMA’s resilient infrastructure program that plans to address increased heat and other climate related impacts on infrastructure but stopped short of declaring a national emergency. Sen. Heinrich along with several other senators sent a letter to President Biden Wednesday urging him to declare a national emergency.
“I think we saw a good first step for the president today,” Heinrich said. “I’m hoping that that’s just the first salvo in a long list of executive actions that can make a meaningful difference in decarbonizing our economy.”