[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 59 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
116th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 59
Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New
Deal.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 7, 2019
Mr. Markey (for himself, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Sanders, Mrs. Gillibrand, Ms.
Harris, Ms. Warren, Ms. Hirono, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Booker,
Ms. Klobuchar, and Mr. Murphy) submitted the following resolution;
which was referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New
Deal.
Whereas the October 2018 report entitled ``Special Report on Global Warming of
1.5 C'' by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the
November 2018 Fourth National Climate Assessment report found that--
(1) human activity is the dominant cause of observed climate change
over the past century;
(2) a changing climate is causing sea levels to rise and an increase in
wildfires, severe storms, droughts, and other extreme weather events that
threaten human life, healthy communities, and critical infrastructure;
(3) global warming at or above 2 degrees Celsius beyond pre-
industrialized levels will cause--
G (A) mass migration from the regions most affected by climate
change;
G (B) more than $500,000,000,000 in lost annual economic output in
the United States by the year 2100;
G (C) wildfires that, by 2050, will annually burn at least twice as
much forest area in the western United States than was typically burned by
wildfires in the years preceding 2019;
G (D) a loss of more than 99 percent of all coral reefs on Earth;
G (E) more than 350,000,000 more people to be exposed globally to
deadly heat stress by 2050; and
G (F) a risk of damage to $1,000,000,000,000 of public
infrastructure and coastal real estate in the United States; and
(4) global temperatures must be kept below 1.5 degrees Celsius above
pre-industrialized levels to avoid the most severe impacts of a changing
climate, which will require--
G (A) global reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from human
sources of 40 to 60 percent from 2010 levels by 2030; and
G (B) net-zero global emissions by 2050;
Whereas, because the United States has historically been responsible for a
disproportionate amount of greenhouse gas emissions, having emitted 20
percent of global greenhouse gas emissions through 2014, and has a high
technological capacity, the United States must take a leading role in
reducing emissions through economic transformation;
Whereas the United States is currently experiencing several related crises,
with--
(1) life expectancy declining while basic needs, such as clean air,
clean water, healthy food, and adequate health care, housing,
transportation, and education, are inaccessible to a significant portion of
the United States population;
(2) a 4-decade trend of wage stagnation, deindustrialization, and anti-
labor policies that has led to--
G (A) hourly wages overall stagnating since the 1970s despite
increased worker productivity;
G (B) the third-worst level of socioeconomic mobility in the
developed world before the Great Recession;
G (C) the erosion of the earning and bargaining power of workers in
the United States; and
G (D) inadequate resources for public sector workers to confront the
challenges of climate change at local, State, and Federal levels; and
(3) the greatest income inequality since the 1920s, with--
G (A) the top 1 percent of earners accruing 91 percent of gains in
the first few years of economic recovery after the Great Recession;
G (B) a large racial wealth divide amounting to a difference of 20
times more wealth between the average White family and the average Black
family; and
G (C) a gender earnings gap that results in women earning
approximately 80 percent as much as men, at the median;
Whereas climate change, pollution, and environmental destruction have
exacerbated systemic racial, regional, social, environmental, and
economic injustices (referred to in this preamble as ``systemic
injustices'') by disproportionately affecting indigenous peoples,
communities of color, migrant communities, deindustrialized communities,
depopulated rural communities, the poor, low-income workers, women, the
elderly, the unhoused, people with disabilities, and youth (referred to
in this preamble as ``frontline and vulnerable communities'');
Whereas, climate change constitutes a direct threat to the national security of
the United States--
(1) by impacting the economic, environmental, and social stability of
countries and communities around the world; and
(2) by acting as a threat multiplier;
Whereas the Federal Government-led mobilizations during World War II and the New
Deal created the greatest middle class that the United States has ever
seen, but many members of frontline and vulnerable communities were
excluded from many of the economic and societal benefits of those
mobilizations; and
Whereas the Senate recognizes that a new national, social, industrial, and
economic mobilization on a scale not seen since World War II and the New
Deal era is a historic opportunity--
(1) to create millions of good, high-wage jobs in the United States;
(2) to provide unprecedented levels of prosperity and economic security
for all people of the United States; and
(3) to counteract systemic injustices: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
(1) it is the duty of the Federal Government to create a
Green New Deal--
(A) to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions
through a fair and just transition for all communities
and workers;
(B) to create millions of good, high-wage jobs and
ensure prosperity and economic security for all people
of the United States;
(C) to invest in the infrastructure and industry of
the United States to sustainably meet the challenges of
the 21st century;
(D) to secure for all people of the United States
for generations to come--
(i) clean air and water;
(ii) climate and community resiliency;
(iii) healthy food;
(iv) access to nature; and
(v) a sustainable environment; and
(E) to promote justice and equity by stopping
current, preventing future, and repairing historic
oppression of indigenous peoples, communities of color,
migrant communities, deindustrialized communities,
depopulated rural communities, the poor, low-income
workers, women, the elderly, the unhoused, people with
disabilities, and youth (referred to in this resolution
as ``frontline and vulnerable communities'');
(2) the goals described in subparagraphs (A) through (E) of
paragraph (1) (referred to in this resolution as the ``Green
New Deal goals'') should be accomplished through a 10-year
national mobilization (referred to in this resolution as the
``Green New Deal mobilization'') that will require the
following goals and projects--
(A) building resiliency against climate change-
related disasters, such as extreme weather, including
by leveraging funding and providing investments for
community-defined projects and strategies;
(B) repairing and upgrading the infrastructure in
the United States, including--
(i) by eliminating pollution and greenhouse
gas emissions as much as technologically
feasible;
(ii) by guaranteeing universal access to
clean water;
(iii) by reducing the risks posed by
climate impacts; and
(iv) by ensuring that any infrastructure
bill considered by Congress addresses climate
change;
(C) meeting 100 percent of the power demand in the
United States through clean, renewable, and zero-
emission energy sources, including--
(i) by dramatically expanding and upgrading
renewable power sources; and
(ii) by deploying new capacity;
(D) building or upgrading to energy-efficient,
distributed, and ``smart'' power grids, and ensuring
affordable access to electricity;
(E) upgrading all existing buildings in the United
States and building new buildings to achieve maximum
energy efficiency, water efficiency, safety,
affordability, comfort, and durability, including
through electrification;
(F) spurring massive growth in clean manufacturing
in the United States and removing pollution and
greenhouse gas emissions from manufacturing and
industry as much as is technologically feasible,
including by expanding renewable energy manufacturing
and investing in existing manufacturing and industry;
(G) working collaboratively with farmers and
ranchers in the United States to remove pollution and
greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector
as much as is technologically feasible, including--
(i) by supporting family farming;
(ii) by investing in sustainable farming
and land use practices that increase soil
health; and
(iii) by building a more sustainable food
system that ensures universal access to healthy
food;
(H) overhauling transportation systems in the
United States to remove pollution and greenhouse gas
emissions from the transportation sector as much as is
technologically feasible, including through investment
in--
(i) zero-emission vehicle infrastructure
and manufacturing;
(ii) clean, affordable, and accessible
public transit; and
(iii) high-speed rail;
(I) mitigating and managing the long-term adverse
health, economic, and other effects of pollution and
climate change, including by providing funding for
community-defined projects and strategies;
(J) removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere
and reducing pollution by restoring natural ecosystems
through proven low-tech solutions that increase soil
carbon storage, such as land preservation and
afforestation;
(K) restoring and protecting threatened,
endangered, and fragile ecosystems through locally
appropriate and science-based projects that enhance
biodiversity and support climate resiliency;
(L) cleaning up existing hazardous waste and
abandoned sites, ensuring economic development and
sustainability on those sites;
(M) identifying other emission and pollution
sources and creating solutions to remove them; and
(N) promoting the international exchange of
technology, expertise, products, funding, and services,
with the aim of making the United States the
international leader on climate action, and to help
other countries achieve a Green New Deal;
(3) a Green New Deal must be developed through transparent
and inclusive consultation, collaboration, and partnership with
frontline and vulnerable communities, labor unions, worker
cooperatives, civil society groups, academia, and businesses;
and
(4) to achieve the Green New Deal goals and mobilization, a
Green New Deal will require the following goals and projects--
(A) providing and leveraging, in a way that ensures
that the public receives appropriate ownership stakes
and returns on investment, adequate capital (including
through community grants, public banks, and other
public financing), technical expertise, supporting
policies, and other forms of assistance to communities,
organizations, Federal, State, and local government
agencies, and businesses working on the Green New Deal
mobilization;
(B) ensuring that the Federal Government takes into
account the complete environmental and social costs and
impacts of emissions through--
(i) existing laws;
(ii) new policies and programs; and
(iii) ensuring that frontline and
vulnerable communities shall not be adversely
affected;
(C) providing resources, training, and high-quality
education, including higher education, to all people of
the United States, with a focus on frontline and
vulnerable communities, so that all people of the
United States may be full and equal participants in the
Green New Deal mobilization;
(D) making public investments in the research and
development of new clean and renewable energy
technologies and industries;
(E) directing investments to spur economic
development, deepen and diversify industry and business
in local and regional economies, and build wealth and
community ownership, while prioritizing high-quality
job creation and economic, social, and environmental
benefits in frontline and vulnerable communities, and
deindustrialized communities, that may otherwise
struggle with the transition away from greenhouse gas
intensive industries;
(F) ensuring the use of democratic and
participatory processes that are inclusive of and led
by frontline and vulnerable communities and workers to
plan, implement, and administer the Green New Deal
mobilization at the local level;
(G) ensuring that the Green New Deal mobilization
creates high-quality union jobs that pay prevailing
wages, hires local workers, offers training and
advancement opportunities, and guarantees wage and
benefit parity for workers affected by the transition;
(H) guaranteeing a job with a family-sustaining
wage, adequate family and medical leave, paid
vacations, and retirement security to all people of the
United States;
(I) strengthening and protecting the right of all
workers to organize, unionize, and collectively bargain
free of coercion, intimidation, and harassment;
(J) strengthening and enforcing labor, workplace
health and safety, antidiscrimination, and wage and
hour standards across all employers, industries, and
sectors;
(K) enacting and enforcing trade rules, procurement
standards, and border adjustments with strong labor and
environmental protections--
(i) to stop the transfer of jobs and
pollution overseas; and
(ii) to grow domestic manufacturing in the
United States;
(L) ensuring that public lands, waters, and oceans
are protected and that eminent domain is not abused;
(M) obtaining the free, prior, and informed consent
of indigenous peoples for all decisions that affect
indigenous peoples and their traditional territories,
honoring all treaties and agreements with indigenous
peoples, and protecting and enforcing the sovereignty
and land rights of indigenous peoples;
(N) ensuring a commercial environment where every
businessperson is free from unfair competition and
domination by domestic or international monopolies; and
(O) providing all people of the United States
with--
(i) high-quality health care;
(ii) affordable, safe, and adequate
housing;
(iii) economic security; and
(iv) clean water, clean air, healthy and
affordable food, and access to nature.
<all>