At least 59 legislators signed on Wednesday to a letter demanding that party leaders add more climate provisions to the $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill slated for a vote as early as this week. There are no do-overs,” said the letter, authored by Reps. Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-Calif.), Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.), Brenda Lawrence (D-Mich.) and Chellie Pingree (D-Maine). By Monday, lawmakers had already submitted close to 350 amendments to the infrastructure bill, but Politico reported that many would not be allowed to be offered. The first roughly $2 trillion stimulus package that Congress passed to ease the economic hardship of the coronavirus pandemic largely rebuffed activists’ calls to mandate cuts in polluting emissions. Two-thirds of Americans say the federal government should do more to reduce the effects of climate change, according to a Pew Research Center poll released in June.

Source: Huffington Post July 01, 2020 13:07 UTC