Washington, D.C. – In a letter to Congressional leaders today, 22 U.S. Climate Alliance governors called for swift passage of a robust federal legislative package with the climate and clean energy investments and incentives our country needs to confront the climate crisis, improve public health and equity, cut costs for businesses and families, and grow the economy.

“We need a bold climate and clean energy package from Congress,” wrote the governors in today’s letter. “There is no time to waste, and Congress must take immediate action.”

Signatories of the letter included the governors of: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.

The text of today’s letter is copied below:

June 7, 2022

Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Schumer, Minority Leader McCarthy, and Minority Leader McConnell:

We write as members of the U.S. Climate Alliance to urge you to swiftly pass a robust federal legislative package with the climate and clean energy investments and incentives our country needs to confront the climate crisis, improve public health and equity, cut costs for businesses and families, and grow the economy. Simply put: There is no time to waste, and Congress must take immediate action.

The U.S. Climate Alliance is a bipartisan coalition of governors committed to climate action, representing approximately 60 percent of the U.S. economy and 55 percent of the U.S. population. We are already experiencing record drought, extreme heat, massive wildfires, and flooding fueled by our changing climate, and the costs of climate inaction are mounting. Over just the past five years, extreme weather has cost Americans an additional $600 billion in physical and economic damages, and we know the longer we wait to curb emissions, the more expensive, and limited, the solutions get.

At the state level, we are doing our part by innovating and accelerating climate solutions. We are getting more zero- emission vehicles on our roads, rapidly transitioning to clean energy, improving energy efficiency, supporting overburdened communities and displaced workers, cutting harmful emissions, and strengthening resilience. But this is not enough to reach our country’s climate goals. We need major investment from Congress commensurate with the crisis we all face and the rapid transition we must all make. The U.S. House of Representatives previously approved a transformative $550 billion climate package for this purpose, and it is critical that any climate package include a similar level of funding.

Governors are not alone in calling for immediate action and significant investment. Dozens of the country’s top energy, automotive, manufacturing, technology, and health care executives and companies have urged Congress to quickly pass a climate package. They know, just as we do, that these investments are good for business, good for jobs, and good for the American people.

We are grateful that Congress passed the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act late last year with important resources to support infrastructure investments in our communities. However, significantly more is needed to secure our net-zero emission future. We need a bold climate and clean energy package from Congress. Let’s seize this moment, and momentum. Let’s ensure future generations look back on the weeks ahead as a turning point — a moment when America’s leaders stepped up and delivered.