Democrats fail to fight for livable climate in year-end bills

WASHINGTON – Congressional negotiators released a spending package to fund the government for the coming year. The proposal promotes dangerous fossil fuel investments in Europe, leaves intact numerous anti-environment legacy riders and funds Trump’s racist border wall.

In addition, a separate tax extenders package released in the early hours of the morning included a biodiesel credit sought by Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) but excluded incentives for solar, storage and electric vehicles.

In response, Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth, issued the following statement:

This will be remembered as the week House leadership gave away the store for a corporate trade deal but balked at fighting for the climate. It’s almost 2020 and Democrats are still passing dangerous and short-sighted year-end deals that promote dirty fossil fuels and harm our environment.

Instead of negotiating for a livable climate, House leadership traded away their leverage and failed to secure any incentives for solar, energy storage and electric vehicles. It’s shameful that the tax extenders package includes credits for dirty biodiesel while actual clean, alternative energies got next to nothing. This is a monumental failure of leadership. We call upon progressives to oppose this deal.

Contact: Erin Jensen, (202) 222-0722, [email protected]