Today, Representatives Adriano Espaillat and Melanie Stansbury introduced an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2025 (FY2025) National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
This amendment will protect future funding for a key Biden Administration rule that is dedicated to reducing the federal government’s contributions to climate change. The amendment also received cosponsor support from Representatives Chrissy Houlahan (PA-06) and Sydney Kamlager-Dove (CA-37).
House Majority Republicans blocked the amendment, denying Congress the chance to vote on this crucial issue.
“… NASA to limit their contributions to climate change …”
Introduced as a proposed rule in October 2021, President Biden’s proposed federal acquisition regulation (86 FR 57404 ) looks to require the Department of Defense, the General Services Administration, and NASA to limit their contributions to climate change when acquiring supplies and services from private companies with Congressional funds. The current FY2025 2025 NDAA introduced by House Republicans contains a section—Section 318—which would eliminate any 2025 Defense Department funding from enforcing this rule. The Espaillat-Stansbury amendment struck this harmful section in an effort to preserve the Biden administration’s autonomy to continue responding to the ongoing climate crisis.
“The impacts of climate change can be witnessed within our communities and around the globe,” said Rep. Espaillat. “The Biden administration has made landmark strides to reduce the United States’ government’s contributions to greenhouse gas emissions, to increase climate justice at home and abroad, and to increase U.S. leadership in tackling our global climate crisis. We will not tolerate House Republicans continued attempts to derail the administration’s fight against our climate crisis, and our FY2025 NDAA amendment reaffirms Congressional Democrats’ support for President Biden’s broader slate of climate change initiatives at the Department of Defense and throughout the federal government.”
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“Let me be clear: we are in the midst of a climate crisis. We see it everywhere,” said Rep. Stansbury. “It is unacceptable that House Republicans refuse to acknowledge or act on the consistent and devastating impacts of this crisis for our planet. We must support and expand the important work of the Biden Administration to build up resilient communities and mitigate the impacts of climate change. I am proud to co-lead this amendment to preserve the Administration’s ability to respond to this ongoing crisis.”
Last year, Rep. Espaillat also introduced a similar NDAA amendment dedicated to supporting funding for President’s Biden’s November 2022 proposed rule (87 FR 68312 ), which would require major Defense Department contractors to report their emissions levels and climate-related risks. Rep. Espaillat and Rep. Stansbury’s FY2025 NDAA amendment compliments this effort to stand against House Republicans’ partisan efforts to use the NDAA process to derail President Biden’s pro-climate agenda.
Representative Espaillat
Representative Espaillat is the first Dominican American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives and his congressional district includes Harlem, East Harlem, West Harlem, Hamilton Heights, Washington Heights, Inwood, Marble Hill and the north-west Bronx. First elected to Congress in 2016, Representative Espaillat is serving his fourth term in Congress. Representative Espaillat currently serves as a member of the influential U.S. House Committee on Appropriations responsible for funding the federal government’s vital activities and serves as Ranking Member of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee of the committee during the 118th Congress. He is also a member of the House Budget Committee and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), where he serves in a leadership role as the Deputy Chair as well as Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI). Rep. Espaillat is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) and serves as a Senior Whip of the Democratic Caucus.
To find out more about Rep. Espaillat, visit online at https://espaillat.house.gov/.
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