by Justine Calma (The Verge) Democrats will commit today to a wide-ranging new progressive agenda that simultaneously tackles pandemic recovery, climate change, and systemic injustice. They’re calling the agenda THRIVE, which stands for “Transform, Heal, and Renew by Investing in a Vibrant Economy.”
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The new agenda isn’t official legislation, and it’s unlikely to be introduced in Congress in its current form. Instead, it’s meant as a roadmap for future policy, similar to the Green New Deal resolution made public in February 2019.
The content of the THRIVE resolution is also similar to the Green New Deal, although it also incorporates a response to the economic devastation brought on by the coronavirus. The Green New Deal included three pillars: taking action on climate change, creating green jobs, and addressing environmental racism and injustice. The THRIVE agenda takes a broader approach, incorporating those elements into a new platform of eight pillars aimed at empowering workers, communities of color, tribal nations, and people affected by economic upheavals caused by COVID-19 and other crises.
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Proponents of the THRIVE agenda say it could create close to 16 million new jobs, as estimated by economists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
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The new agenda would create policies to curb air, water, and land pollution from fossil fuels and manufacturing.
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The resolution also calls for the US to commit to the most ambitious target set in the Paris agreement, keeping global warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius. To do so, greenhouse gas emissions would need to essentially disappear by 2050 — meaning close to no fossil fuels burned. The THRIVE agenda sets a shorter-term goal of running the US power sector on only carbon pollution-free energy by 2035 — an aim included in Biden’s climate plan. READ MORE
Democrats and progressive groups unveiled a resolution to address the coronavirus pandemic, as well as economic, racial and climate crises. (Politico’s Morning Energy)
MEMO: VOTERS SUPPORT THE THRIVE AGENDA (Data for Progress)
Democrats unveil green alternative for U.S. economic stimulus (Reuters)
Excerpt from Politico’s Morning Energy: Under the plan, the Democrats and groups call for creating 16 million jobs with strong union protections, avoiding “climate and environmental catastrophe” by taking aggressive action to phase out fossil fuels and directing at least 40 percent of new investments toward communities of color and indigenous communities “that have been excluded, oppressed, or harmed by racist or unjust practices.” The resolution highlighted eight pillars for the recovery, but did not include any specific policies or details about the potential costs of implementing the strategy.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the strategy was to combine the priorities under a single policy framework, which did not include any specific policies or details about the potential costs of implementing the strategy. The resolution echoes the language of the Green New Deal by demanding the federal government facilitate “a bold and holistic national mobilization” to solve the crises. Should Democrats win control of the Senate, it would be “a top priority to pass a just, economic, renewable bill” following the principles outlined in the resolution, Schumer said at a press conference.
PELOSI: CLIMATE ‘EARLY PART’ OF PRIORITIES: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi meanwhile told reporters action addressing climate change would be “an early part of the agenda” if Joe Biden wins the presidency this year. “When Joe Biden says, build back better, that better includes building back in a way that is resilient, that is green, that protects the planet,” she said. “That will be a part [of the agenda], whether it is one bill, or it permeates the bills.” She specifically mentioned legislation, H.R. 9 (116), that would have the U.S. rejoin the Paris climate agreement and outline a plan for meeting its commitments, though Biden could do it administratively.
USE IT OR LOSE IT: Bipartisan and bicameral lawmakers called on the leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services committees to include legislation to boost carbon capture and sequestration technologies in the final defense reauthorization bill for fiscal year 2021. Investments in CCUS and direct air capture technologies as part of the USE IT measure, S. 383 (116), that was included in the Senate-passed NDAA bill would help manage national security risks, the lawmakers argue, while also “fostering new industries and creating important domestic jobs as the United States emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic.” The letter was led by Barrasso, Rep. David B. McKinley (R-W.Va.), Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.). READ MORE