December Educate Congress
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House Letter
At a time when study after study reveals the increasing urgency of acting rapidly to move away from fossil fuels and onto 100% renewable energy, we ask you to cosponsor the Off Fossil Fuels for a Better Future Act (HR 3671 – Gabbard D-HI).
The visionary legislation is the strongest climate bill introduced to date and recognizes that we must make massive changes to our energy system in the next decade if we are to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Additionally, the bill recognizes the need to place racial and economic justice at the forefront of the climate fight. Low-wealth communities and communities of color, including Native American communities, are being impacted first and worst by global warming right now. The bill addresses this reality by creating the Center for Clean Energy Workforce Development, which will create jobs giving priority to disadvantaged communities, while transforming our energy economy and putting us on a path to 100% renewable energy by 2035.
We are in a climate emergency. The threat of climate chaos from global warming is real and the evidence continues to mount. Today, global average temperatures are 1.0°C higher than before the industrial revolution, which spurred our now crippling dependence on fossil fuels. This warning has led to dramatic, planet-wide ecological and climatic changes.
In 2015, nations of the world met in Paris at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and agreed that preventing the planet from warming 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels “would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change.” This will require aggressive action to reverse our dependence on fossil fuels and achieve 100% clean energy worldwide. We do not have decades to wait. We must act now in order to have a reasonable chance of avoiding the worst of climate chaos.
The OFF Act achieves this while creating thousands of jobs and promoting equity and justice by:
- Providing for a just transition with a focus on environmental and economic justice communities
- Requiring 100% of electricity sold in the United States to come from clean energy by 2035 with an interim benchmark of 80% by 2027;
- Requiring 100% of car sales from manufacturers be zero-emission vehicles by 2035;
- Ending federal fossil fuel subsidies and putting a moratorium on new major fossil fuel projects;
- Placing a tax on offshore corporate income to help fund the renewable energy revolution;
- Requiring elimination of fossil fuels without allowing for interim marketplace avoidance mechanisms like cap and trade that have proven ineffective in significantly reducing emissions.
In doing this, the OFF Act will stop fossil fuel projects, create tens of thousands of new jobs while transforming our energy economy, begin to address environmental injustices and put us on the path towards the national mobilization necessary to address the climate crisis.
The climate emergency presents an existential threat to all people on this planet and time is running out. The OFF Act is a critical piece of legislation that will spur the necessary transition of our energy economy on a timeline that rises to the threat science tells us we face. People Demanding Action joins with more than 60 national organization and 120 state organizations in urging you to cosponsor this important legislation and publicly and forcefully advocate for its passage.
The Continuing Resolution to fund the government expires on December 22nd. Please vote no on any Continuing Resolution or Omnibus bill that does not include a clean Dream Act.
Senate Letter
There are two crucial upcoming Senate votes: Tax Reform and the confirmation of Alex Azar. We are asking you to vote No on both!
Alex Azar has been nominated to replace Tom Price as secretary of the department Health and Human Services; Mr. Azar is the former president of Eli Lilly. one of the biggest pharmaceutical corporations, where he oversaw massive price hikes on lifesaving medication like insulin. If Alex Azar is confirmed, Big Pharma will be able to save its lobbying dollars. I am positive that none of those savings will be passed on to us, your constituents.
We must not reward the pharmaceutical industry by putting a former industry leader in charge of national health care policy. Big Pharma will make even bigger profits but more people will become sicker and even die.
Under Azar, Eli Lilly raised prices on insulin repeatedly and did so at the same time as the other two main suppliers of insulin. Over the past 20 years, the price of Eli Lilly’s insulin has increased 1,000 percent, from $21 per vial to around $300. During Azar’s time at Eli Lilly, the company paid tens of millions in fines for allegedly lying about the cancer risks of some medicines and engaging in illegal off-label sales.
As the conference committee works to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions of Tax Reform, this legislation is designed to destroy government and create significant harm to poor and middle-class families. Creating a deficit of more than $1 trillion and then demanding cuts to Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid is unacceptable. Opening up the Arctic for drilling and repealing tax credits for renewable energy in the fastest growing job sector is just plain stupid! And may we say one last time, the architect of trickle down economics, Bruce Barlett, said, “Tax cuts don’t equal growth. The best growth in recent memory came after President Bill Clinton raised taxes in the 90s. There’s no evidence that a tax cut now would spur growth.”
Just say, “No” to tax cuts for the rich and a former Big Pharma executive as Secretary of Health and Human Services.
The Continuing Resolution to fund the government expires on December 22nd. Please vote no on any Continuing Resolution or Omnibus bill that does not include a clean Dream Act.