Michigan LCV: Time for Congress to finish the job amid ‘code red for humanity’ from climate change

LANSING — The Michigan League of Conservation Voters today issued the following statement regarding the bipartisan infrastructure legislation that passed the U.S. Senate Tuesday. With the Senate now turning its focus to passing a $3.5 trillion budget resolution, Michigan LCV calls on the Michigan delegation to support this investment in clean energy, electric vehicles, union jobs and action on climate change.

“Action toward rebuilding our country’s failing infrastructure is much-needed, and we thank members of the Michigan delegation who voted for it. However, there is more to do.” said Lisa Wozniak, executive director for the Michigan League of Conservation Voters. “This legislation is progress towards fixing our aging infrastructure, but it falls short on addressing the climate crisis we are seeing firsthand in Michigan with regular 100-year storms that flood our homes and highways and threaten our health. We call on lawmakers in our Michigan delegation to support the President’s Build Back Better Agenda and deliver the kind of investment we need to address the climate crisis and protect the future of our children. It’s time to finish the job.”

The infrastructure package, as well as a $3.5 trillion budget resolution being developed, come as the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report Monday that found the Earth is warming at a faster rate than previously thought, and temperatures over the next two decades will exceed the 1.5 degree Celsius threshold the scientific community has warned against. The report references this excessive warming as a “code red for humanity.”