Interfaith Power & Light

A Religious Response to Global Warming

House Passes John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act

Posted by Mitchell Atencio on Aug 25, 2021, Sojournes

The House of Representatives passed HR 4, known as the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, 219-212, which faith leaders and other voting rights advocates believe is a crucial step in voter protection.

“Tireless hours by members of Congress and civil rights leaders have brought the issue of federally mandated voter suppression to the forefront of conversations around American democracy,” Rev. Al Sharpton said in a news release through March On For Voting Rights. “This is only the start of the fight to move farther and farther away from the Jim Crow Era.”…

…Interfaith Power and Light, a religious group organizing around combatting climate change, tweeted earlier in August that “People of faith believe that for democracy to work for all of us, it must include us all. It’s time for the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to enact national standards for voting to ensure all of our voices are heard.” Read more here

Washington Report- August 2021

By Jonathan Lacock-Nisly, IPL Federal Policy AssociateWashington Report - Feb 2021

It’s almost August recess in DC, normally a time when work slows down and legislators book tickets back to their home states. But nothing about this year has been normal. While members of the House have left town, senators remain hard at work on two bills at the heart of President Biden’s agenda. And Senate Leader Chuck Schumer is threatening to keep them here until they can deliver.

Infrastructure and Climate Updates

We finally have text for the bipartisan infrastructure bill, and it should be coming up for a vote in the Senate tomorrow. (For a refresher on the current two-track approach to infrastructure legislation, see the June update here.)

Of IPL’s priorities, the bipartisan bill includes:

  • Funding to clean up Superfund sites and other legacy pollution, including abandoned mine lands ($21 billion, with $11 billion for abandoned mine lands)
  • Investments to improve and expand ‌Amtrak‌ ‌service‌ ‌($66 billion)
  • Some funding for ‌clean‌ ‌drinking‌ ‌water ($63 billion, only $15 billion for lead pipe removal)
  • Investments in ‌the‌ ‌development‌ ‌of‌ ‌a‌ ‌21st‌ ‌century‌ ‌electrical‌ ‌grid‌ ($65 billion)
  • Building electric‌ ‌vehicle‌ ‌charging‌ ‌stations‌ ($7.5 billion)

These provisions are important, and the funding for abandoned mine lands is especially encouraging, as it would more than cover the funding that IPL has long sought through the RECLAIM Act. Collectively, however, this package falls short of the investments needed and does little to address the climate crisis. We must ensure that the reconciliation package includes real funding for:

  • Clean energy: The bipartisan deal includes no meaningful support for wind and solar power. We need the reconciliation package to include an extension and expansion of clean energy tax credits for wind, solar, and electric vehicles, as well as a national Clean Energy Standard that supports truly clean, renewable energy.
  • Replacing lead pipes: This deal cuts the total funding for clean water to half of what the President had initially proposed, and only $15 billion for removing lead pipes. This is significantly less than $60 billion the water industry estimates is needed to ensure all communities have lead-free drinking water.
  • Clean transportation: The bipartisan deal includes insufficient funding for public transit, rail, electric school buses, and electric vehicle charging.
  • Investing with justice: As President Biden promised on the campaign trail, we need to see at least 40% of funds spent in the communities hurt the most by our current polluting economy.

Democratic senators are expected to vote on a budget framework (the basic outline of their reconciliation deal) as soon as the bipartisan deal passes. Then the real work will begin.

Voting Rights

The For the People Act (H.R. 1 / S. 1) (see fact sheet here) passed the House earlier this year. It had stalled in the Senate because Sen. Joe Manchin, the Senate’s most conservative Democrat, had refused to support it, but it gained new life in June with a compromise measure from Manchin that includes many of the essential pieces of the bill.

Senators are now working behind the scenes to write up a new version of the bill that includes the provisions Manchin supports in both the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (S. 4263 in the last Congress). For now, Manchin and several other Democratic senators still oppose any changes to the filibuster that would allow this important legislation to pass with a simple majority vote, as IPL has called for.

Yet the fact that a new version of the bill is being worked on is itself a victory. Voting rights legislation still has a chance in this Congress thanks to the many faithful advocates across the country who have kept talking to their senators about the For the People Act.

Keep the faith, and keep the pressure on your senators this summer! Check back here for updates.

What Congress does this summer will define the climate trajectory for the pivotal decade to come.

By Susan Stephenson, Executive Director

The last time Congress had the ball on climate– more than a decade ago in the Obama administration — they fumbled. Specifically, the Senate fumbled by failing to pass or even vote on a Senate companion to the Waxman-Markey climate bill that had passed the House. And we lost a crucial decade in the struggle to head off climate chaos. Imagine the progress we could have made on replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy, cleaning up our air, advancing climate solutions like battery technology, weatherizing homes, preparing for climate disasters, cutting emissions, and saving lives if we hadn’t spent the last ten years procrastinating. 

But now, we have another chance. Given the need for economic stimulus after the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the broad consensus for investments in infrastructure and job creation, we even have a chance to go big. There’s still a narrowing window of time to transition to a clean energy economy before truly catastrophic climate change is locked in. But given the escalating pace of climate disasters globally — from record heat to massive forest fires to deadly flooding — that window is closing fast. The planet cannot afford another fumble.

While the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal has some good things in it, notably the biggest investment in passenger rail since the creation of Amtrak, and a nationwide network of half a million EV charging stations, it is hardly transformative. But there is still hope for a budget reconciliation package that truly puts us on the path to a safe climate and clean energy future.

President Biden’s proposal for a $3.5 trillion package provided an excellent blueprint. If properly drawn up, budget reconciliation measures can be approved with only 51 votes, thus avoiding a filibuster and providing a political pathway for significant climate policies. 

Further in our favor, Speaker Pelosi has said that she will not move the bipartisan infrastructure bill until the Senate also sends them a budget resolution bill that includes many of the remaining climate provisions that were left out of the bipartisan bill.

We must keep pressure on the Senate for bold investments that match the scale of the climate crisis and our communities’ needs. In addition to filling the funding gaps from the Infrastructure bill, the reconciliation package must include:

  • A 100% Clean Energy Standard by 2035, and 80% by 2030. This is one of the most impactful policies for cutting carbon pollution. 
  • Expanded renewable energy and clean vehicle tax credits and rebates for consumers, extended for 10 years 
  • A Justice40 Initiative to ensure that at least 40% of investments go to the disadvantaged communities that have borne the brunt of fossil fuel pollution for far too long
  • Support for dislocated fossil fuel workers to help them transition to clean energy jobs
  • A Civilian Climate Corps to help Americans employ youth and train them for good, stable clean energy careers
  • Replacement of lead pipes so all communities have safe drinking water.
  • Significant support for global decarbonization through investments in the Green Climate Fund.

Our faith teaches us to be good stewards of the Earth, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. But God’s Creation is suffering, and climate change puts the most vulnerable at risk. Lives and livelihoods are being lost. Our children’s right to a livable climate is threatened. Click here to call your Senators and tell them it is time to join us in this fight.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s words could not be more applicable today. He said:  “We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there “is” such a thing as being too late. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.” 

We are living through a historic moment; we must not squander it.  What Congress does this summer will define the future for generations to come. The fierce urgency of now is upon us.  The Earth doesn’t have another decade to wait. 

SELC statement on challenge to Virginia’s cap-and-trade program

Published on July 15, 2021
Contact: Alexandra Werner-Winslow, Communications Manager (VA). Phone: 434-977-4090

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA — Today the Circuit Court of the City of Richmond issued an opinion rejecting to the Virginia Manufacturers Association’s 2020 challenge to Virginia’s cap-and-trade program. In response to the decision, SELC Senior Attorney Nate Benforado released the following statement:

“Virginia’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is already working to drive down carbon dioxide emissions in the Commonwealth while bringing in tens of millions of dollars to help low-income families reduce electricity bills and communities combat flooding. The Virginia Manufacturers Association’s last-ditch effort to upend this program not only would have subverted the will of the General Assembly, but also would have hurt millions of people across Virginia who stand to benefit from cleaner air to breathe and programs to deal with climate change. We are extremely pleased that the court saw right through the Virginia Manufacturers Association’s baseless arguments.”

Virginia is the first Southern state to participate in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Southern Environmental Law Center filed an amicus brief on behalf of our clients, Virginia Interfaith Power & Light, Appalachian Voices, and Wetlands Watch, supporting the Attorney General’s Office’s defense of this important program.

###

Read the press release here

Washington Report: June 2021

By Jonathan Lacock-Nisly, IPL Federal Policy Associate
Washington Report - Sept 2020
In person advocacy is returning to DC!

On June 9th, Interfaith Power & Light and partners gathered with 100 faith leaders at the Capitol to show support for 100% clean electricity by 2035, as part of President Biden’s American Jobs Plan. (More here!) That plan has been at the center of 3 months of negotiations in Congress on an infrastructure and climate bill that looks ready to reshape our country’s roads, bridges, electricity, and climate response for decades to come. This moment is truly a generational opportunity.

Across the country, over 3,400 more faith leaders showed their support through an open letter to Congress, calling for a strong climate and infrastructure package that cares for the communities most harmed by our current fossil fuel infrastructure.

Infrastructure updates

The quick version:
Congress is gearing up to write and pass two infrastructure bills—one that is small, has very little for the climate, and is bipartisan, and another that is larger, climate focused, and likely to only be supported by Democrats.

The longer version:
Since unveiling the American Jobs Plan at the end of March, President Biden and Democrats in the Senate have been negotiating with Republican senators in hopes of finding an infrastructure package that at least 10 Republicans would support. That’s how many GOP senators it would take to overcome the filibuster, a Senate procedural rule requiring most legislation to receive 60 votes to pass.

However, it isn’t the only way to pass a bill in the Senate. Packages that deal mostly with spending (like this one) can be passed with a simple majority vote through a process called budget reconciliation. Yet several moderate Democrats have insisted the reconciliation process only be used as a last resort.

On June 24th, the White House reached a tentative deal on an infrastructure bill with a group of bipartisan senators. We’re deeply concerned that the deal looks to have very little for clean energy, climate, and environmental justice.

However, we’re encouraged that President Biden and Speaker Pelosi both put out statements saying that they would only support this bill in tandem with a budget reconciliation bill that covers climate priorities. Congress is now turning to the task of writing and passing two bills—one that is small, has very little for the climate, and is bipartisan, and another that is larger, climate focused, and likely to only be supported by Democrats.

What can you do?

Talk to your senators, and let them know that an infrastructure plan must include climate action to have your support. It’s a message every senator needs to be hearing right now. Use this link to call and remind them that climate as a part of infrastructure action is:

-A moral imperative! Our communities depend on our elected leaders to address the climate crisis and act for environmental justice. Caring for the climate is a form of caring for our neighbors.

Speaking after the faith leaders event at the Capitol, IPL’s President Rev. Susan Hendershot told a reporter, “”Proverbs 29:18 says, ‘Without a vision the people perish,’… We know that without a vision the people perish, and without action to bring that vision to life, all that we hold most precious and sacred will perish.”

-A factual imperative! Our current infrastructure is crumbling in part because it wasn’t built to withstand a changing climate. From winter superstorms causing power outages in Texas, to hurricanes flooding cities and sewer systems in the Southeast, to wildfires forcing blackouts in the West, our infrastructure must be updated to deal with the changes we’re already seeing. It would be foolish to miss this chance to also address the root causes of those climate disruptions.

You can see our full faith, climate, and infrastructure fact sheet here. Our top priorities include:
-Expanding clean, renewable energy sources and passing a Clean Energy Standard to achieve 100% clean electricity by 2035
-40% of funds being spent in the communities hurt the most by our current polluting economy
-Electrifying transportation and expanding public transit

For the People Act (H.R. 1 / S. 1)
This important voting rights legislation (see fact sheet here) passed the House earlier this year. It had stalled in the Senate, but it gained new life this week with a compromise measure from Sen. Manchin that includes many of the essential pieces of the bill.

This new version now looks to have support of a majority of senators, but still can’t pass because of the filibuster. We continue to call on the Senate to do what is right for our democracy and pass this essential legislation with a simple majority vote.

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