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Climate deniers and defeatists in Congress just voted to delay consideration of a budget for a month, maybe for good, while threatening to sue the State Department for spending money on climate action. Sign here to tell Congressional leaders to stop being ridiculous and give Obama’s climate budget a vote!

Friend,

Republican Appropriations leaders just voted to delay consideration of a budget this month, making it even more likely that one or both chambers will fail to vote on a budget at all this year.1 That could prove embarrassing for GOP leaders like Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell who pledged not to let Congress grind to a halt or shut down again this year.

And they SHOULD be embarrassed. Congress can't even get it's act together to consider a budget for our country, while President Obama has already put out a positive, $4.1 trillion plan that actually acts on climate.2

Specifically Obama’s #ActOnClimate budget:

  • Levies a $10/barrel tax on crude oil and invests $20 billion in alternative transportation options like high speed rail.2
  • Eliminates $39 billion of special tax breaks for Big Oil companies.2
  • Invests $750 million to help frontline communities around the world become more climate resilient.2

Even worse than doing nothing, however, is what some climate deniers and defeatists in Congress are saying about the money President Obama has already spent. The State Department today paid $500 million into the United Nations' Green Climate Fund, a down payment on the $3 billion we pledged in the Paris Climate Agreement last December.3 Within hours, Republican Senators accused the President of violating the law, with Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker arguing that action on climate change "really breaks down trust."4

Actually, taxing fossil fuels and investing in climate action like we promised is EXACTLY what we need right now. Sign here to tell Congress: Inaction is not an option - give Obama’s #ActOnClimate budget a vote!



Congress' inability to get its act together on a budget is nothing new. But we should still shame McConnell and Ryan into acting right now. Our actions have a chance to be heard because they both want to get a budget over and done with before the Fall, when most members have to return home to campaign for re-election.4 

If you sign now, we'll make sure every member of Congress knows that we want a hearing on budget ideas that tackle climate change. Our hope is that they'll either take us seriously, or be goaded into action to try and prove us wrong. Either way, the planet will win by getting a debate on some great budget ideas to fight global warming. Sign here to tell Congress: Inaction is not an option - give Obama’s #ActOnClimate budget a vote!

Thanks for telling Congress to put our money into climate action,

Drew and the #ActOnClimate Budget crew at Environmental Action

1 - Ben Weyl and Seung Min Kim, Senate GOP to delay budget, Politico, March 7, 2016
2 - Sarah Ferris and Jordan Fabian, Obama unveils $4.1T election-year budget, The Hill, February 9, 2016
3 - Andrew Restuccia, Barrasso: State violated law by paying out Green Climate Fund money, Politico, March 8, 2016
4 - Wikipedia, United States budget process
   - David Graham, What on Earth Is a Vote-a-Rama?, The Atlantic, March 22, 2013 

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