Issue Position: Climate Change

Issue Position

From the launch of my first congressional campaign in 2014, the issue at the forefront of my mind has been and remains climate change. It is the most significant and perhaps most intractable problem we face. We do a disservice to our children and the generations thereafter if we do not move in a more profound and rapid way toward solving this crisis.

In Congress, I am part of many efforts to address climate change. I co-chair the New Democrat Coalition Climate Change Task Force, as well as the Congressional Safe Climate Caucus. Both groups offer leadership in Congress on how we move away from carbon pollution and offer solutions to meet the climate crisis, in addition to drawing attention to the president's backward movements, such as his withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement.

I also believe that I should personally lead on a path forward. I believe carbon pricing is one of the most important tools available that can help us meet the speed and scale with which we need to respond. For that reason, I am the sponsor of the Healthy Climate and Family Security Act, a carbon cap and dividend bill that would auction carbon pollution credits and return the proceeds electronically every quarter to every American.

And I believe we must facilitate the necessary research and innovation to tackle hard to decarbonize sectors and build upon our current successes. I sponsored the bipartisan SEA FUEL Act, currently adopted in the National Defense Authorization Act, to help the military capture carbon and use it to create fuels, which could enhance to our military's energy security when deployed at sea or at hard to reach places. I am also a co-lead of the ARPA-E Reauthorization Act to help the U.S. scale-up truly transformational clean energy technologies.

I also know that we must prepare our communities to adapt. I am the sponsor of the bipartisan National Oceans and Coastal Security Improvements Act, which dedicates the federal government to more effectively build up our coastal resilience and help communities like Alexandria proactively deal with nuisance flooding, which will get worse with climate change. I am also leading the bipartisan RECLAIM Act, which helps fast tracks dispersal of Reclamation Funds to coal-mining regions for economic opportunities. It is imperative that we help facilitate economic opportunities for communities in their transition away from a coal-based economic livelihood.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change tells us that we must reach net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest. To meet that goal, we must act now.

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