Weekly Briefing: Bipartisan Climate Ag Bill Advances In Senate

May 5, 2021

Thanks in part to the broad bipartisan support CCL helped generate, the Growing Climate Solutions Act (S. 1251) is moving through the Senate at a rapid pace. Introduced on April 20 by Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) with 43 cosponsors, the bill was passed by voice vote in the Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee just two days later.

Agriculture Committee Chair Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), who worked on the bill with Sen. Braun, said she expects it to reach the Senate floor in a matter of weeks.

The bill is one of several CCL volunteers have brought up as “supporting asks” in lobby meetings because they complement carbon pricing. Alabama volunteer Emily Northrup brought up the Growing Climate Solutions Act when her group met with staffers for Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville. She followed up her meeting pitch by urging Sen. Tuberville to cosponsor the bill in a letter to the editor that ran in three Alabama newspapers. 

On Earth Day, she got a note from a staffer saying, “You will be happy to hear that Senator Tuberville is a cosponsor of the Growing Climate Solutions Act — we signed on earlier this week.”

You can read more about our volunteers’ lobbying efforts on the bill in our latest blog post.

Read the Blog!
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In other news this week:

Washington state votes to price carbon: After a number of failed attempts to put a price on carbon through referenda or legislation, the state legislature in Washington passed a cap-and-trade bill last week that Gov. Jay Inslee is expected to sign. The success in Washington is evidence that carbon pricing is still very much in the conversation about solving climate change. Learn more in this Grist article or this in-depth analysis from climate journalist David Roberts. 

Event featuring Mark Reynolds and Rep. Dean Phillips: CCL Executive Director Mark Reynolds will join Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips next Tuesday, May 11, for an online event hosted by Returned Peace Corps Volunteers for Environmental Action. They’ll talk about the carbon-pricing legislation CCL and Rep. Phillips support and the importance of being actively engaged in our democracy. RSVP here to attend.

Join us for June conference: Don’t miss our free virtual conference, “The Push for a Price on Carbon,” happening June 12 from 1 to 5 p.m. ET. Already, 1,145 people are registered for the conference, which will feature keynote speakers Jerry Taylor from the Niskanen Center, Jasmine Sanders from Our Climate, and Adele Morris from the Brookings Institution. Register now.
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Take action this week 

If you have a little time: Watch and share our new video about the reintroduction of the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.

If you have more time: Join our national conference call this Saturday at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT with Andrés Jimenez, Executive Director of Green 2.0. He’ll talk about his organization’s work to highlight and advance diversity in the environmental movement.

Grasstops: Kentucky economists' endorsement 

When Kentucky CCL volunteer Christine Missik saw that 50 economists in Indiana had signed an endorsement for carbon fee and dividend in the Indianapolis Star, she decided to try the same thing in her state. She shortened the Indiana statement and solicited signatures via email from 50 economists at 13 schools throughout the state. Endorsements came in from 43 economists (a number that has now risen to 52), and on April 23 the Lexington Herald-Leader ran the statement with the list of economists.

Read Kentucky's Published Statement

CCL Appalachia Regional Coordinator Jon Clark said volunteers in Virginia and West Virginia are working to replicate the success with economists. You can reach out to Christine about getting economists to endorse carbon fee and dividend by posting in the Grasstops Engagement forum on Community and tagging her.