Weekly Briefing: These times call for us to hold the line on climate

June 25, 2025

“About 128 million Americans from Louisiana to Maine are under heat advisories Wednesday amid a severe heat wave impacting much of the U.S.,” CBS News reported this morning.

“Extreme heat is only becoming more common,” TIME points out. “In the United States, heat waves now occur three times as often as they did in the 1960s, and [...] climate change is making heat domes 150 times more likely.”

News coverage like that makes it abundantly clear that more climate action is needed. So it’s especially troubling that in the first few months of President Trump’s second term in office, he and his administration have made major moves on climate — in the wrong direction.

Citizens’ Climate Lobby is one of the few grassroots groups working on climate policy at the federal level, and one of the few climate groups who has longstanding bipartisan relationships in Congress. Over the last few months, we’ve been using that experience and those relationships in new and different ways to help hold the line on climate.

This week, we published a new blog series detailing some of what we’ve done to push back against funding and staffing cuts at climate-related federal agencies, as well as supporting bipartisan efforts in Congress to ensure sufficient funding for critical climate and clean energy programs.

Check out the blog series today, and don’t forget — your efforts as a CCL volunteer help make this progress happen.

Read the Blog Series

In other news this week

• ICYMI: Ricky Bradley named CCL’s interim Executive Director: On CCL’s June monthly meeting, Citizens’ Climate board chairs announced that CCL Executive Director Rachel Kerestes has resigned her role, and CCL’s current Vice President of Field Operations Ricky Bradley will serve as our Interim Executive Director. Catch up on the announcement and hear from Ricky himself about his history with our organization, his prior experience, and his belief in our passion and purpose.

Take action this week

If you have a little time: Send a message to Republican Senators. Last week, we launched a new action for CCLers to email their Republican Senators. We’re urging them to protect clean energy tax credits in the budget bill they’re working on. The latest reporting suggests that Republican lawmakers still need to “resolve major sticking points” before they have enough agreement to advance the bill — that means the window is still open for us to make an impact! If you’re represented by at least one Republican Senator, use our easy online tool to send them a message today.

If you have more time: Learn more about CCL’s Summer Conference and Lobby Day. Are you busy July 21-22? You should be! We want you to join us — and hundreds of CCLers from across the country — at our Summer Conference & Lobby Day in Washington, D.C. Here’s what to expect:

• A jam-packed, two-day format dedicated to building the skills you need for Lobby Day.

• Insight into today’s climate landscape and key perspectives on where CCL fits in.

• Be with the best people in the world, doing the best work, for the best cause.

Visit cclusa.org/summer today to browse the conference schedule, venue details, photos and videos from last year’s conference, and more.

Featured chapter: CCL West Los Angeles - Read their feature here!

Upcoming trainings

6/30: Summer 2025 Lobby Training #1: Primary & Secondary Asks - Join CCL's Vice President of Government Affairs Jenn Tyler for a training that will review the updates and context for CCL's Summer 2025 Primary and Secondary Asks as well as guidance for lobby teams as they plan their in-person meetings. Join us!

7/10: Summer 2025 Lobby Training #2: Legislative Plan and Q&A - For the second part of this training series, CCL's Vice President of Government Affairs Jenn Tyler will provide up to the moment insights on the dynamics in Congress and how we can most effectively use our time in meetings to support our agenda. Join us!