A group of more than 80 House Democrats called on President Joe Biden on Monday to restart negotiations on stalled climate portions of the Build Back Better legislation.
Democrats are asking Biden to take advantage of Democratic majorities in Congress to enact the bill’s $555 billion in clean energy tax credits and other climate provisions, adding to pressure on the administration to act before the 2022 midterm elections, which Republicans are favored to win.
“Throughout 2021, we bore witness to the devastating impacts of the climate crisis, further illustrating why transformational action cannot wait,” said the letter, authored by Reps. Sean Casten of Illinois, Jamaal Bowman of New York, and Nikema Williams of Georgia.
“Inaction now will mean irreversible consequences for our future generations,” the group added.
The letter included signatures from members of both the party’s centrist and liberal wings. “Every day we fail to reach an agreement on the baseline climate investments passed by the House is a day American families and businesses pay the price at the pumps and oil-rich oligarchs profit,” the letter read. “Restarting negotiations with climate action is the clearest if not the only path forward to deliver tangible results to the American people.”
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The letter comes as Democrats struggle to pass the legislation through the evenly divided Senate and after centrist Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who previously opposed the Build Back Better legislation, indicated earlier this month that he would be open to a climate deal.
