Tag Archives: Biden Administration

Biden Administration, Climate Action, Climate Change, Jobs

FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Announces Historic Rules to Create Good-Paying, High-Quality Clean Energy Jobs

Inflation Reduction Act final rules build on Administration actions to develop a skilled, well-paid workforce to build the clean energy economy and combat the climate crisis. The Biden Administration has created mechanisms and collaborations to connect those who want to work in the clean energy industry with jobs. This fact sheet was provided by the White House:

Since day one, President Biden has committed to building a clean energy economy that creates good-paying and union jobs for American workers. Spurred by President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, which includes the most significant investment in climate and clean energy in history, America has unleashed a clean energy manufacturing and deployment boom that has attracted hundreds of billions of dollars in private sector investment and created more than 270,000 new good-paying and union clean energy jobs. These investments are flowing to the places President Biden promised not to leave behind, including the historic energy communities that have powered this nation for generations and economically distressed communities, providing jobs and economic opportunity, particularly for workers without a college degree.

The Inflation Reduction Act delivered on President Biden’s commitment to be the most pro-worker, pro-union president in history, attaching strong labor protections and incentives to climate and clean energy tax credits for the first time ever. Outside analysis projects that the Inflation Reduction Act could create 1.5 million additional jobs over the next decade, and these provisions will ensure that those jobs building wind farms, installing solar panels, and constructing hydrogen and carbon capture facilities will be good-paying and support proven pathways into the clean energy industry that will allow workers to earn while they learn.

Today, the Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service announced final rules implementing the prevailing wage and registered apprenticeship increased credit provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act.

Clean energy projects that meet the requirements of these final rules will receive a fivefold increase for clean energy tax credits for deployment of wind, solar, nuclear, hydrogen, and other clean energy technologies, as well as for projects receiving allocations under the Section 48C Advanced Energy Projects credit., providing a significant incentive for project developers to pay prevailing wages to workers for construction, alteration, and repair of clean energy projects and to hire registered apprentices to earn while they learn by working on those projects.  

Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen and Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su also published a blog highlighting the use of Project Labor Agreements as a best practice for large construction projects and a tool to help project developers comply with the prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements. Project Labor Agreements, or pre-hire collective bargaining agreements that set the terms and conditions for employment on a construction project, help workers and developers alike by providing strong worker and wage protections while ensuring a reliable supply of skilled workers to help deliver projects on time and on budget.

The final rules provide certainty for clean energy developers and workers to realize the benefits of President Biden’s historic investments in the clean energy economy. To protect workers and ensure compliance with these requirements, the IRS also released a Fact Sheet that can be posted at job sites and used to educate workers about the prevailing wage and registered apprenticeship standards for clean energy projects, including information on how to use IRS Form 3949-A to report suspected violations of tax law. The IRS and Department of Labor (DOL) also announced that they are working on an MOU, to be signed by the end of the year, that will harness DOL’s extensive prevailing wage and registered apprenticeship expertise, to facilitate joint education and public outreach, develop training content for IRS examiners, and formalize a process for DOL to share with IRS, any credible tips or information about potential noncompliance with the prevailing wage and registered apprenticeship requirements.

Today’s announcement builds on efforts across the Administration to create strong pathways into good-paying and union jobs in clean energy and build a high-quality, diverse pipeline of workers prepared to build the clean energy economy of the future:

  • The Department of Labor launched an interactive map to highlight for workers, unions, and the public more than 1,000 planned clean energy projects nationwide, including the estimated number of workers at each project who stand to benefit if taxpayers satisfy the prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements.
     
  • The Biden-Harris Administration launched a series of Investing in America Workforce Hubs, partnerships with state and local officials, employers, unions, community colleges, high schools, and other stakeholders in regions with significant investments through President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, to connect Americans to good-paying jobs in industries of the future, including Hubs focused on clean energy.
     
  • First Lady Jill Biden announced the first set of five Hubs in May 2023, fueling significant progress in building and scaling new job training opportunities, while President Biden announced four more hubs in April to build on the success of the first set.
    • The Augusta, Georgia Workforce Hub announced partnerships between employers, unions, nonprofits, philanthropy, school districts, and colleges to build workforce and skills development efforts to meet the needs of the energy, battery and battery materials, and nuclear sectors.
  • The Pittsburgh Workforce Hub announced hundreds of new job opportunities and training pathways—including registered apprenticeships—in clean energy, as well as in cyber occupations that support clean energy and other critical sectors.
     
  • Building on historic investments in electric vehicle and battery manufacturing, President Biden launched the Michigan Electric Vehicle Workforce Hub, building on significant efforts underway, to ensure that the transition to electric vehicle supports the union workers and communities that have driven the auto industry for generations.
    • Vice President Kamala Harris visited Detroit in May to announce a suite of actions to support small- and mid-sized auto manufacturers and auto workers to lead the electric vehicle future.
       
  • In the Columbus Workforce Hub, Columbus State Community College is working with partners across the state to quadruple the number of students trained for engineering technology jobs. In addition, partners are preparing at least 10,000 skilled construction trades workers, including for clean energy jobs in the area.
     
  • The Department of Energy launched the Community Workforce Readiness Accelerator for Major Projects (RAMP) initiative, a pilot initiative that places selected fellows from across the nation in target geographies in order to  convene and  catalyze effective, inclusive workforce strategies to prepare and connect local workers to good jobs on large clean energy infrastructure and supply chain projects funded the Investing in America agenda.
     
  • The Department of Energy continues to incentivize grant and loan recipients across a wide array of Investing In America programs to commit to the use of registered apprenticeships, pre-apprenticeships, project labor agreements, collective bargaining agreements, community benefits agreements, and other established tools to ensure that workers have accessible on-ramps to good-paying and union jobs in the growing clean energy economy.
     
  • The Department of Energy, in coordination with the Department of Labor and the AFL-CIO, launched the Battery Workforce Initiative, a national workforce development strategy for lithium-battery manufacturing with $5 million to support pilot training programs. Recently, the Battery Workforce Initiative announced National Guideline Standards for registered apprenticeships for battery machine operators, created in partnership with battery manufacturers, community colleges, and unions, which lay out rigorous training requirements to support the skilled battery workforce.
     
  • Last week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that it would invest $60 million from President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act to advance climate-ready workforce projects in coastal and Great Lakes states, Tribes, and territories. The Climate-Ready Workforce Initiative will fund skills training in emergency preparedness and response, floodproofing, structural elevation, water and wastewater treatment, geographic information systems, and other critical climate-ready jobs. Every awarded project supports a community identified as disadvantaged by the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool.
     
  • The Department of Labor announced the award of nearly $94 million in grants to support 34 public-private partnerships to provide worker-centered sector strategy training programs in 25 states and the District of Columbia to meet workforce needs created by the Biden-Harris administration’s “Investing in America” agenda. The training will support jobs in sectors including clean energy. This investment will build career pathways in manufacturing Electric Vehicles (EVs), EV batteries, and EV charging infrastructure in places like Georgia, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. The Department of Labor also announced the availability of approximately $35 million in funding through the second round of Building Pathways to Infrastructure Jobs grants to be awarded.
     
  • The Department of Energy announced up to $24 million in high-quality training for union apprentices, incumbent workers, and students for in-demand jobs in advanced manufacturing and clean energy through the Industrial Assessment Centers (IAC) Program. The announcement is part of the IAC Program’s unprecedented expansion to include Registered Apprenticeship, union-led training, and community and technical college programs through President Biden’s Investing in America agenda. It follows DOE’s $40 million investment, announced in November, to support 17 new IACs as well as the inaugural cohort of 10 Building Training and Assessment Centers. 
     
  • The Biden-Harris Administration launched the Advanced Manufacturing Sprint, an intensive drive to build a diverse, skilled pipeline of workers for needed to fill the good advanced manufacturing jobs created by President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda, including in clean energy, biotechnology, semiconductors, and more. As part of the Sprint, the Department of Labor announced that more than 4,700 apprentices have been hired and more than 150 new programs and occupations created or under development during the course of its Advanced Manufacturing Registered Apprenticeship Accelerator Series—including in the clean energy, semiconductor, aerospace, automotive, and biotechnology sectors.
     
  • The Department of Labor launched a $20 million cooperative agreement with TradesFutures, the nonprofit organization of partner of North America’s Building Trades Unions) and the National Urban League, to enroll more than 13,000 participants in apprenticeship readiness programs, giving them hands-on learning experience and skills development, and place at least 7,000 participants into Registered Apprenticeships in the construction industry. The launch followed the Department of Labor’s announcement of nearly $200 million in grants to expand registered apprenticeships, including for clean energy jobs.
     
  • The Biden-Harris Administration launched the Infrastructure Talent Pipeline Challenge, nationwide call to action that brought together more than 350 employers, unions, education and training providers, states, local governments, Tribes, territories, philanthropic organizations, and other stakeholders to make tangible commitments that support equitable workforce development in critical sectors, including electrification.
    • As part of the Talent Pipeline Challenge, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers trained more than 20,000 members through the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Training Program to meet the training requirements for the Department of Transportation National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program to install fast EV chargers on national corridors and in communities.
       
  • The Department of Labor has invested more than $440 million to expand, diversify, and modernize registered apprenticeships, including in high demand clean energy occupations including electricians, water treatment specialists, wind turbine maintenance technicians and other occupations. DOL has also invested in a clean energy apprenticeship industry intermediary, Interstate Renewable Energy Coalition, to increase industry awareness, connect employers and labor organizations with workforce and education partners, and provide technical assistance to launch, scale, and diversify Registered Apprenticeship programs. These investments and resources expand the capacity of the Registered Apprenticeship system, supporting the education and training needs of more than 1 million apprentices across the country, including the clean energy sector. 
     
  • The Department of Energy is working with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory on a first of its kind national Energy Workforce Needs Assessment to project employment impacts from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda and related private investments by occupation and geography, analyze current education and training capacity, and identify the most acute workforce gaps and strategies to fill them. 
     

The Department of Energy has convened a federal advisory committee called the 21st Century Energy Workforce Advisory Board to develop a strategy and recommendations on how DOE and other federal agencies should address the workforce needs, challenges, and opportunities of a rapidly changing energy system. The report is expected in early August. 

Biden Administration, Climate Action, Climate Change

Fact Sheet: Biden-Harris Administration Takes Action to Expand Access to Capital for Small- and Medium-Sized Climate Businesses

The Biden Administration is accomplishing a real transition to clean energy and a sustainable green economy through promoting investments in technology, businesses, and innovation with state and local governments and private businesses, while demanding a framework of economic and environmental justice. This fact sheet listing Biden Administration actions to expand access to capital for small and medium sized climate businesses was provided by the White House:

Through President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, the U.S. is making the largest public investment in climate action in history. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, the largest-ever investment in climate action, introduced and expanded grants, loans, tax incentives, and other programs to accelerate clean energy deployment, invest in resilience, and seed breakthrough innovative technologies. Combined with unprecedented executive action, these investments are setting the United States on a path to achieve President Biden’s ambitious climate goals — including cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and reaching net zero by 2050. President Biden’s historic economic policies have spurred unprecedented levels of private investment into America’s clean energy economy. Since the start of the Biden-Harris Administration, the private sector has announced $866 billion in new investments in clean energy and manufacturing.

Creating economic opportunity for all American communities, entrepreneurs, and workers is central to President Biden’s economic and climate agenda. The Biden-Harris Administration is committed not only to catalyzing investment for climate and clean energy companies, but also to expanding access to that investment, ensuring all communities, including those historically left behind, benefit from these unprecedented resources.  

Today, National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard, National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi, and Small Business Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman will host a Climate Capital Convening at the White House with investors, climate technology start-ups, small business owners, and entrepreneurs to discuss opportunities to mobilize capital for climate-focused businesses across America.
 
The Biden-Harris Administration will also announce new actions and resources to expand access to climate capital:
 
Releasing the new Climate Capital Guidebook:

The Biden-Harris Administration is releasing a new Climate Capital Guidebook to provide a simple, comprehensive map of capital programs across the federal government that are available to climate-related start-ups, small- and medium-sized businesses, and their investors. While larger, institutionally-backed climate companies may have the resources to identify and access federal funding opportunities, smaller enterprises may face greater challenges in navigating these federal programs.

The Guidebook includes financing and funding programs created and expanded by the Biden-Harris Administration, including those made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act, and longstanding annual appropriations. It inventories opportunities across the entire federal government, including the Department of Energy, the Department of Agriculture, the Small Business Administration, and the Export-Import Bank of the United States. Together, these programs comprise hundreds of billions of dollars in grants, loans, loan guarantees, and other funding tools to spur the financing and deployment of new clean energy and climate projects — while simultaneously focusing on delivering cleaner air, good-paying jobs, and affordable clean energy to disadvantaged communities, energy communities, and other communities in need.  The Guidebook also indicates programs that are part of President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which set the goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal climate, clean energy, and other investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.


Expanding financing to support small businesses’ adoption of clean energy:

Small businesses are a critical part of achieving net zero by 2050 and should have access to capital to deploy new clean energy and climate projects.

The Small Business Administration’s 504 Loan Program provides long-term, fixed rate loans of up to $5.5 million from Small Business Administration-approved lenders to small businesses for certain energy and manufacturing projects to support capital expenditures such as real estate or equipment. Previously, this program was capped at three loans per company, allowing each company to receive a total of $16.5 million in loans backed by the Small Business Administration.  This month, the Small Business Administration is lifting its cap on the number of 504 loans that small businesses may receive for “energy public policy projects,” which include projects that reduce energy consumption such as retrofits and/or renewable energy projects such as adding solar. In lifting this cap, small businesses may now bundle multiple 504 loans to finance projects that leverage clean energy technologies to lower production costs, improve energy efficiency, and contribute to emissions reductions goals.

This change increases the total financing available to small businesses tackling climate change and investing in a clean energy future.

Today’s announcements build on prior Biden-Harris Administration actions to expand access to climate capital, including:

Expanding Financing for Clean Energy and Climate Solutions:

  • Thanks to the President’s Inflation Reduction Act, the Environmental Protection Agency is implementing the $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a first-of-a-kind national financing program to catalyze private investment in clean energy projects. The agency announced $14 billion for a National Clean Investment Fund, $6 billion for the Clean Communities Investment Accelerator, and $7 billion for the Solar for All Program. Together, these investments are creating new clean energy job opportunities and reducing pollution in low-income and disadvantaged communities, as part of President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative.
  • The Inflation Reduction Act contains new and expanded tax credits to support investment in new clean electricity generation projects, clean energy manufacturing plants, electric vehicle charging stations, and other clean energy projects. The law also contains new credit monetization provisions for direct pay and transferability, which are expanding eligibility to tax-exempt entities like cities, states, and nonprofit organizations and helping to lower the cost of financing clean energy investments.
  • Made possible by funding from the American Rescue Plan, the Department of the Treasury allocated nearly $10 billion through the State Small Business Credit Initiative to deliver funding to states, territories, and Tribal governments that spurs lending and support to small businesses. Several states are using funds from the State Small Business Credit Initiative to support climate-focused initiatives, for example: Connecticut is leveraging $89 million to launch a climate equity and venture capital program, Illinois is using $20 million to support its Climate Bank Finance Participation Loan Program, and New Jersey is committing $80 million to its Clean Energy Loans Program.
     
  • The Department of the Treasury, through the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund), is promoting access to capital in low-income communities through monetary awards and tax credits to certified CDFIs. The program recently began collecting data on climate-centered financing by CDFIs — including projects related to climate resilience, extreme weather response or preparation, emission reduction, sustainability, energy or water efficiency, and clean energy projects.
  • The Department of Defense and the Small Business Administration are jointly rolling out the Small Business Investment Company Critical Technologies Initiative to increase capital investment in technologies critical to U.S. economic and national security. The initiative provides equity, debt, and other capital investments in specified critical technology areas, including renewable energy generation and storage.

Funding Clean Energy and Climate Projects Across the Economy:

  • The Small Business Administration’s flagship 7(a) Loan Program provides small businesses access to financing for a wide variety of projects, including acquiring new real estate, working capital, refinancing, and purchasing new equipment. In August 2023, the Small Business Administration announced its Affiliation Rule and SBLC Rule. This rule included changes to how affiliation is assessed and removed “control” as a factor in determining eligibility of a borrower under current size standards. In effect, this change will enable more small businesses, especially innovative venture-backed companies, to access the credit they need to start up and grow. 
  • The Small Business Administration plans to establish a new Working Capital Pilot Program under its signature 7(a) lending program to provide lines of credit to small businesses, including clean energy and climate technology manufacturers, to support their domestic or export finance needs. The program will be paired with business counseling from the Small Business Administration.
  • The Department of Energy is accepting Round 2 applications on behalf of the Internal Revenue Service for the Qualifying Advanced Energy Project Tax Credit, funded by the Inflation Reduction Act. After $4 billion in tax credits were allocated to taxpayers in Round 1 in Spring 2024, the program will allocate an additional $6 billion in tax credits to projects in three areas: clean energy manufacturing, critical materials, and industrial decarbonization. A portion of the funds have also been set aside for projects in certain designated energy communities.
  • The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act created the Clean Ports Program and the Reduction of Truck Emissions at Port Facilities Program, both of which help advance the Justice40 Initiative. Through the Clean Ports Program, the Environmental Protection Agency is awarding $3 billion to fund zero-emission port equipment and infrastructure as well as climate and air quality planning projects at ports. Through the Reduction of Truck Emissions at Port Facilities Program, the Department of Transportation is investing $400 million in port electrification and efficiency; $148 million in awards were made earlier in 2024, and companies can apply to a second funding opportunity that will go live later this year.
  • The Departments of Energy and Transportation are working together with states to build out the infrastructure for an electric mobility future while furthering the Justice40 Initiative. The National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program is providing a total of $5 billion over five years to states to deploy electric vehicle charging infrastructure along corridors, and the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Program is providing an additional $2.5 billion over five years to fill gaps in the national network by installing chargers in various communities. The SMART Program is granting states $500 million over five years to conduct demonstration projects focused on advanced smart community technologies and systems that improve transportation efficiency and safety. And the Communities Taking Charge Accelerator Program is providing $54 million in funding for projects that expand community e-mobility access and provide reliable clean energy, accelerating the transition to electric vehicles, including in disadvantaged communities.
  • The Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Energy are collaborating with state and local partners to ensure that funding for affordable housing development can also be used to deploy clean energy technologies like heat pumps. Programs like the Green and Resilient Retrofit Program, the annual Innovative Housing Showcase, and the Buildings Upgrade Prize highlight how funds for affordable housing can simultaneously benefit clean energy and climate companies.

Building Federal Resource Hubs and Providing Technical Assistance:

  • The Small Business Administration launched its Investing in America Small Business Hub, a new digital resource to help small businesses identify and access industry-specific tax credit, rebate, contracting, and grant opportunities made possible by President Biden’s Investing in America agenda.
  • The Environmental Protection Agency published a list of Clean Energy Finance Tools and Resources to help state and local governments access financing for clean energy and climate programs. This includes a toolkit for state and local decision-makers on financing opportunities such as green banks, revolving loan funds, municipal bonds, and green bonds.
  • The Department of the Treasury launched the IRA Taxpayer Resource Hub, a one-stop-shop for information on the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean energy tax benefits. The Hub details how businesses can take advantage of clean energy tax credits to help finance new investments in clean power systems, energy efficiency upgrades, or electric vehicles.
  • The Department of Housing and Urban Development launched the Build for the Future Hub to connect users — including state and local governments, Tribal entities, private entities, and non-profits — to funding opportunities, technical assistance, and other information related to clean energy, climate resilience, energy efficiency, green workforce development, and more.
  • The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership provides a government-to-business and business-to-business portal for supplier scouting. Public and private organizations can access this portal for business or technology connections, including in clean energy and climate-related industries. Local Manufacturing Extension Partnership Centers facilitate government, original equipment manufacturer, and small and medium-sized manufacturer matchmaking events for clean energy companies.
  • The Department of Labor offers workforce development opportunities for clean energy and climate technology companies. The Office of Apprenticeship connects employers with workforce and education partners and provides technical assistance to launch and expand Registered Apprenticeship programs. The Battery Workforce Initiative — an industry-driven, government-facilitated partnership coordinated by the Department of Energy — is accelerating the development and use of high-quality, standardized training materials in key occupations for companies and local training providers in the battery manufacturing industry.

Seeding Commercial Innovation:

  • The U.S. Economic Development Administration designated 31 communities across the United States as Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs (Tech Hubs) to drive regional innovation, private investment, and job creation to strengthen each region’s capacity to manufacture, commercialize, and deploy technology that advances national security. The hubs in Florida, Idaho/Wyoming, Louisiana, Missouri, Nevada, New York, and South Carolina/Georgia cite a growing need for clean energy technologies to build global economic competitiveness.
  • The U.S. Economic Development Administration’s Build to Scale Program makes awards to strengthen regional innovation ecosystems that equitably support diverse technology innovators, entrepreneurs, and start-ups, including in clean energy and other climate-related industries.
Biden Administration, Climate Action, Climate Change, Energy

FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Launches Federal-State Initiative to Bolster America’s Power Grid

If you want to transition from planet-killing fossil fuels that contribute to global warming and climate change to clean, renewable, sustainable energy, much more has to be done to increase the capacity and reliability of the electric grid. This fact sheet on what the Biden-Harris Administration is doing to bolster America’s power grid was provided by the White House:

Since Day One, President Biden has positioned America as a leader in the global race for a clean energy future, including by taking ambitious action to deliver a clean, reliable electric grid, which will help ensure that communities don’t lose power during extreme weather events, lower energy costs for hardworking families, and create good-paying jobs – all while tackling the climate crisis. Under the President’s leadership, the U.S. is projected to build more new electric generation capacity this year than we have in two decades – 96 percent of that clean energy. In addition, ten major transmission projects have begun construction, expected to connect nearly 20 gigawatts of new power to the grid. America is investing tens of billions to strengthen our grid to bolster resiliency, strengthen energy security, and drive innovation. And in recent weeks, the Biden-Harris Administration has taken critical steps to build out the nation’s power grid – from making the federal permitting process for new transmission lines more efficient to launching a public-private mobilization to upgrade 100,000 miles of existing lines.
 
Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is building on this momentum by launching a Federal-State Modern Grid Deployment Initiative, with commitments from 21 leading states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin. Building on the Biden-Harris Administration’s legislative accomplishments and executive actions in tackling the grid modernization challenge, the initiative aims to bring together states, federal entities, and power sector stakeholders to help drive grid adaptation quickly and cost-effectively to meet the challenges and opportunities that the power sector faces in the twenty-first century.
 
Participating states have committed to prioritize efforts that support the adoption of modern grid solutions to expand grid capacity and build modern grid capabilities on both new and existing transmission and distribution lines. Historically, expanding the capacity of the U.S. power grid has typically relied on building new transmission lines with technologies that have not changed since the mid-twentieth century. Today, a new generation of modern grid technologies provides a significant opportunity to achieve power system capacity expansion, including through high-performance conductors that have the benefit of being able to carry double or more of the amount of power of conventional transmission wires, as well as Grid Enhancing Technologies that maximize electricity transmission across the existing system through a family of technologies that includes sensors, power flow control devices, and analytical tools. These solutions increase the capacity and throughput based on real-time conditions. Deploying these tools means that renewables and other clean sources of power can be integrated sooner and more cost-effectively than waiting for new transmission construction, which will address load growth challenges more rapidly, create good-paying jobs, and lower Americans’ utility bills.
 
Alongside this announcement, the U.S. Climate Alliance announced the availability of policy, technical, and analytical assistance to help participating members advance state-level efforts to carry out these commitments. In conjunction the Department of Energy is elevating the host of technical assistance programs that can support varying levels of analysis for utilities, policy makers, regulators, state energy offices, and other stakeholders. 

In particular, the 21 states signing on as inaugural members will focus on:

  • Meeting the shared challenges and opportunities of increased load growth, a rapidly changing energy landscape, aging infrastructure, and new grid-enhancing technologies – while delivering reliable, clean, and affordable energy to consumers.
    • Deploying innovative grid technologies to bolster the capacity of our electric grid and more effectively meet current and future demand, maximize benefits of new and existing transmission infrastructure, increase grid resilience to the growing impacts of climate change, and better protect consumers from variability in energy prices.

Last month, the Biden-Harris Administration announced a public-private mobilization to upgrade 100,000 miles of existing lines with these types of high-impact solutions over the next five years as part of a suite of announcements in the power sector. The Administration is advancing this goal by:

Catalyzing Nationwide Collaboration on Modern Grid Technologies: Governors, regulators, utilities, labor unions, and industry all play vital roles in determining how energy infrastructure gets built. For that reason, the Biden-Harris Administration is convening these stakeholders at the White House today to explore innovative policy solutions to unlock the deployment of modern grid technologies and share best practices. The Federal government stands ready to provide technical and financial assistance and can help provide additional forums to ensure that the best ideas from states, industry, and community stakeholders can be more readily shared.

Accelerating Permitting through New Categorical Exclusions for Reconductoring:
Previously, projects to upgrade a transmission line above 20 miles in length could trigger a detailed environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).  The Department of Energy last month expanded a categorical exclusion for upgrading and rebuilding transmission lines, replacing the previous length limits. DOE also made changes to categorical exclusions for certain energy storage and solar projects on previously developed lands. With these changes, most reconductoring projects now qualify for the simplest form of environmental review, which can take years off of project development time and allow the benefits of the transmission expansion to be realized even sooner.

Funding the Deployment of Advanced Grid Technologies: President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) have provided the largest investment in history to strengthen the nation’s power grid, including programs that can support transmission line upgrades. For example, DOE’s Grid Deployment Office is administering $10.5 billion in competitive grant funding through the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program. The first round of GRIP awards included 10 projects that will help deploy Grid Enhancing Technologies and calls for applications for the second round placed even greater emphases on these solutions. The DOE Loan Programs Office has $250 billion of loan guarantee authority to provide low-interest financing to projects that upgrade existing energy infrastructure, with program guidance that highlights reconductoring as a qualifying project example. The Department of Agriculture’s Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program provides $9.7 billion in low interest loans or grants and represents the largest investment in rural electrification since 1936, with eligibility for transmission system upgrades.

Each of these programs advances President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative which sets a goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain Federal climate, clean energy, affordable and sustainable housing, and other investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.

Reinforcing Administration Accomplishments on New Transmission Lines: The Biden-Harris Administration’s new goal to expand capacity of existing transmission lines will work alongside a historic set of actions to accelerate buildout of new projects. Since 2021, ten major transmission projects have begun construction, expected to connect nearly 20 gigawatts (GW) of new generation to the grid and reflecting over $22 billion in investment, including several projects on public lands that received approvals from the Department of the Interior. The Department of Energy issued a final rule to launch the Coordinated Interagency Transmission Authorization and Permits Program (CITAP), which streamlines the federal permitting process for qualifying electric transmission projects and helps set a standard two-year schedule for authorizations and permits, cutting the average timeframe in half. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a final rule on Regional Transmission Planning and Cost Allocation, Order 1920, that adopts specific requirements addressing how transmission providers must conduct long-term planning for regional transmission facilities, consider the use of advanced conductors and Grid Enhancing Technologies, and determine how to pay for them, so needed transmission is built. 

Biden Administration, Climate Action, Climate Change

FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Announces New Principles for High-Integrity Voluntary Carbon Markets

People talk about putting a price on carbon as a key means of addressing climate change. But what would a carbon market look like? This fact sheet on the Biden Administration’s principles for high-integrity voluntary carbon markets was provided by the White House:

Since Day One, President Biden has led and delivered on the most ambitious climate agenda in history, including by securing the Inflation Reduction Act, the largest-ever climate investment, and taking executive action to cut greenhouse gas emissions across every sector of the economy. The President’s Investing in America agenda has already catalyzed more than $860 billion in business investments through smart, public incentives in industries of the future like electric vehicles (EVs), clean energy, and semiconductors. With support from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act, these investments are creating new American jobs in manufacturing and clean energy and helping communities that have been left behind make a comeback.

The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to taking ambitious action to drive the investments needed to achieve our nation’s historic climate goals – cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and reaching net zero by 2050. President Biden firmly believes that these investments must create economic opportunities across America’s diverse businesses – ranging from farms in rural communities, to innovative technology companies, to historically- underserved entrepreneurs.

As part of this commitment, the Biden-Harris Administration is today releasing a Joint Statement of Policy and new Principles for Responsible Participation in Voluntary Carbon Markets (VCMs) that codify the U.S. government’s approach to advance high-integrity VCMs. The principles and statement, co-signed by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Senior Advisor for International Climate Policy John Podesta, National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard, and National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi, represent the U.S. government’s commitment to advancing the responsible development of VCMs, with clear incentives and guardrails in place to ensure that this market drives ambitious and credible climate action and generates economic opportunity.

The President’s Investing in America agenda has crowded in a historic surge of private capital to take advantage of the generational investments in the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. High-integrity VCMs have the power to further crowd in private capital and reliably fund diverse organizations at home and abroad –whether climate technology companies, small businesses, farmers, or entrepreneurs –that are developing and deploying projects to reduce carbon emissions and remove carbon from the atmosphere.

However, further steps are needed to strengthen this market and enable VCMs to deliver on their potential. Observers have found evidence that several popular crediting methodologies do not reliably produce the decarbonization outcomes they claim. In too many instances, credits do not live up to the high standards necessary for market participants to transact transparently and with certainty that credit purchases will deliver verifiable decarbonization. As a result, additional action is needed to rectify challenges that have emerged, restore confidence to the market, and ensure that VCMs live up to their potential to drive climate ambition and deliver on their decarbonization promise. This includes: establishing robust standards for carbon credit supply and demand; improving market functioning; ensuring fair and equitable treatment of all participants and advancing environmental justice, including fair distribution of revenue; and instilling market confidence.

The Administration’s Principles for Responsible Participation announced today deliver on this need for action to help VCMs achieve their potential. These principles include:

  1. Carbon credits and the activities that generate them should meet credible atmospheric integrity standards and represent real decarbonization.
     
  2. Credit-generating activities should avoid environmental and social harm and should, where applicable, support co-benefits and transparent and inclusive benefits-sharing.
     
  3. Corporate buyers that use credits should prioritize measurable emissions reductions within their own value chains.
     
  4. Credit users should publicly disclose the nature of purchased and retired credits.
     
  5. Public claims by credit users should accurately reflect the climate impact of retired credits and should only rely on credits that meet high integrity standards.
     
  6. Market participants should contribute to efforts that improve market integrity.
     
  7. Policymakers and market participants should facilitate efficient market participation and seek to lower transaction costs.

The Role of High-Quality Voluntary Carbon Markets in Addressing Climate Change
 

President Biden, through his executive actions and his legislative agenda, has led and delivered on the most ambitious climate agenda in history. Today’s release of the Principles for Responsible Participation in Voluntary Carbon Markets furthers the President’s commitment to restoring America’s climate leadership at home and abroad by recognizing the role that high- quality VCMs can play in amplifying climate action alongside, not in place of, other ambitious actions underway.

High-integrity, well-functioning VCMs can accelerate decarbonization in several ways. VCMs can deliver steady, reliable revenue streams to a range of decarbonization projects, programs, and practices, including nature-based solutions and innovative climate technologies that scale up carbon removal. VCMs can also deliver important co-benefits both here at home and abroad, including supporting economic development, sustaining livelihoods of Tribal Nations, Indigenous Peoples, and local communities, and conserving land and water resources and biodiversity. Credit-generating activities should also put in place safeguards to identify and avoid potential adverse impacts and advance environmental justice.

To deliver on these benefits, VCMs must consistently deliver high-integrity carbon credits that represent real, additional, lasting, unique, and independently verified emissions reductions or removals. Put simply, stakeholders must be certain that one credit truly represents one tonne of carbon dioxide (or its equivalent) reduced or removed from the atmosphere, beyond what would have otherwise occurred.

In addition, there must be a high level of “demand integrity” in these markets. Credit buyers should support their purchases with credible, scientifically sound claims regarding their use of credits. Purchasers and users should prioritize measurable and feasible emissions reductions within their own value chains and should not prioritize credit price and quantity at the expense of quality or engage in “greenwashing” that undercuts the decarbonization impact of VCMs. The use of credits should complement, not replace, measurable within-value-chain emissions reductions.

VCMs have reached an inflection point. The Biden-Harris Administration believes that VCMs can drive significant progress toward our climate goals if action is taken to support robust markets undergirded by high-integrity supply and demand. With these high standards in place, corporate buyers and others will be able to channel significant, necessary financial resources to combat climate change through VCMs. A need has emerged for leadership to guide the development of VCMs toward high-quality and high-efficacy decarbonization actions. The Biden-Harris Administration is stepping up to meet that need.

Biden-Harris Administration Actions to Develop Voluntary Carbon Markets

These newly released principles build on existing and ongoing efforts across the Biden-Harris Administration to encourage the development of high-integrity voluntary carbon markets and to put in place the necessary incentives and guardrails for this market to reach its potential. These include:

  • Creating New Climate Opportunities for America’s Farmers and Forest Landowners. Today, The Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) published a Request for Information (RFI) in the Federal Register asking for public input relating to the protocols used in VCMs. This RFI is USDA’s next step in implementing the Greenhouse Gas Technical Assistance Provider and Third-Party Verifier Program as part of the Growing Climate Solutions Act. In February 2024, USDA announced its intent to establish the program, which will help lower barriers to market participation and enable farmers, ranchers, and private forest landowners to participate in voluntary carbon markets by helping to identify high-integrity protocols for carbon credit generation that are designed to ensure consistency, effectiveness, efficiency, and transparency. The program will connect farmers, ranchers and private landowners with resources on trusted third-party verifiers and technical assistance providers. This announcement followed a previous report by the USDA, The General Assessment of the Role of Agriculture and Forestry in the U.S. Carbon Markets, which described how voluntary carbon markets can serve as an opportunity for farmers and forest landowners to reduce emissions. In addition to USDA AMS’s work to implement the Growing Climate Solutions Act, USDA’s Forest Service recently announced $145 million in awards under President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act to underserved and small- acreage forest landowners to address climate change, while also supporting rural economies and maintaining land ownership for future generations through participation in VCMs.
  • Conducting First-of-its-kind Credit Purchases. Today, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced the semifinalists for its $35 million Carbon Dioxide Removal Purchase Pilot Prize whereby DOE will purchase carbon removal credits directly from sellers on a competitive basis. The Prize will support technologies that remove carbon emissions directly from the atmosphere, including direct air capture with storage, biomass with carbon removal and storage, enhanced weathering and mineralization, and planned or managed carbon sinks. These prizes support technology advancement for decarbonization with a focus on incorporating environmental justice, community benefits planning and engagement, equity, and workforce development. To complement this effort, the Department of Energy also issued a notice of intent for a Voluntary Carbon Dioxide Removal Purchase Challenge, which proposes to create a public leaderboard for voluntary carbon removal purchases while helping to connect buyers and sellers.
     
  • Advancing Innovation in Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) Technology. Aside from direct support for voluntary carbon markets, the Biden-Harris Administration is investing in programs that will accelerate the development and deployment of critical carbon removal technologies that will help us reach net zero. For example, DOE’s Carbon Negative Shot pilot program provides $100 million in grants for small projects that demonstrate and scale solutions like biomass carbon removal and storage and small mineralization pilots, complementing other funding programs for small marine CDR and direct air capture pilots. DOE’s Regional Direct Air Capture Hubs program invests up to $3.5 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in demonstration projects that aim to help direct air capture technology achieve commercial viability at scale while delivering community benefits. Coupled with DOE funding to advance monitoring, measurement, reporting, and verification technology and protocols and Department of the Treasury implementation of the expanded 45Q tax credit under the Inflation Reduction Act, the U.S. is making comprehensive investments in CDR that will enable more supply of high- quality carbon credits in the future.
     
  • Leading International Standards Setting. Several U.S. departments and agencies help lead the United States’ participation in international standard-setting efforts that help shape the quality of activities and credits that often find a home in VCMs. The Department of Transportation and Department of State co-lead the United States’ participation in the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), a global effort to reduce aviation-related emissions. The Department of State works bilaterally and with international partners and stakeholders to recognize and promote best practice in carbon credit market standard-setting—for example, developing the G7’s Principles for High-Integrity Carbon Markets and leading the United States’ engagement on designing the Paris Agreement’s Article 6.4 Crediting Mechanism. The
    U.S. government has also supported a number of initiatives housed at the World Bank that support the development of standards for jurisdictional crediting programs, including the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility and the Initiative for Sustainable Forest Landscapes, and the United States is the first contributor to the new SCALE trust fund.
  • Supporting International Market Development. The U.S. government is engaged in a number of efforts to support the development of high-integrity VCMs in international markets, including in developing countries, and to provide technical and financial assistance to credit-generating projects and programs in those countries. The State Department helped found and continues to coordinate the U.S. government’s participation in the LEAF Coalition, the largest public-private VCM effort, which uses jurisdictional-scale approaches to help end tropical deforestation. The State Department is also a founding partner and coordinates U.S. government participation in the Energy Transition Accelerator, which is focused on sector-wide approaches to accelerate just energy transitions in developing markets. USAID also has a number of programs that offer financial aid and technical assistance to projects and programs seeking to generate carbon credits in developing markets, ensuring projects are held to the highest standards of transparency, integrity, reliability, safety, and results and that they fairly benefit Indigenous Peoples and local communities. This work includes the Acorn Carbon Fund, which mobilizes $100 million to unlock access to carbon markets and build the climate resilience of smallholder farmers, and supporting high-integrity carbon market development in a number of developing countries. In addition, the Department of the Treasury is working with international partners, bilaterally and in multilateral forums like the G20 Finance Track, to promote high-integrity VCMs globally. This includes initiating the first multilateral finance ministry discussion about the role of VCMs as part of last year’s Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.
     
  • Providing Clear Guidance to Financial Institutions Supporting the Transition to Net Zero. In September 2023, the Department of the Treasury released its Principles for Net- Zero Financing and Investment to support the development and execution of robust net- zero commitments and transition plans. Later this year, Treasury will host a dialogue on accelerating the deployment of transition finance and a forum on further improving market integrity in VCMs.
     
  • Enhancing Measuring, Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MMRV) The Biden-Harris Administration is also undertaking a whole-of-government effort to enhance our ability to measure and monitor greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, a critical function underpinning the scientific integrity and atmospheric impact of credited activities. In November 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration released the first-ever National Strategy to Advance an Integrated U.S. Greenhouse Gas Measurement, Monitoring, and Information System, which seeks to enhance coordination and integration of GHG measurement, modeling, and data efforts to provide actionable GHG information. As part of implementation of the National Strategy, federal departments and agencies such as DOE, USDA, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Commerce, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration are engaging in collaborative efforts to develop, test, and deploy technologies and other capabilities to measure, monitor, and better understand GHG emissions.
  • Advancing Market Integrity and Protecting Against Fraud and Abuse. U.S. regulatory agencies are helping to build high-integrity VCMs by promoting the integrity of these markets. For example, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) proposed new guidance at COP28 to outline factors that derivatives exchanges may consider when listing voluntary carbon credit derivative contracts to promote the integrity, transparency, and liquidity of these developing markets. Earlier in 2023, the CFTC issued a whistleblower alert to inform the American public of how to identify and report potential Commodity Exchange Act violations connected to fraud and manipulation in voluntary carbon credit spot markets and the related derivative markets. The CFTC also stood up a new Environmental Fraud Task Force to address fraudulent activity and bad actors in these carbon markets. Internationally, the CFTC has also promoted the integrity of the VCMs by Co-Chairing the Carbon Markets Workstream of the International Organization of Securities Commission’s Sustainable Finance Task Force, which recently published a consultation on 21 good practices for regulatory authorities to consider in structuring sound, well-functioning VCMs.
     
  • Taking a Whole-of-Government Approach to Coordinate Action. To coordinate the above actions and others across the Administration, the White House has stood up an interagency Task Force on Voluntary Carbon Markets. This group, comprising officials from across federal agencies and offices, will ensure there is a coordinated, government- wide approach to address the challenges and opportunities in this market and support the development of high-integrity VCMs.

The Biden-Harris Administration recognizes that the future of VCMs and their ability to effectively address climate change depends on a well-functioning market that links a supply of high-integrity credits to high-integrity demand from credible buyers. Today’s new statement and principles underscore a commitment to ensuring that VCMs fulfill their intended purpose to drive private capital toward innovative technological and nature-based solutions, preserve and protect natural ecosystems and lands, and support the United States and our international partners in our collective efforts to meet our ambitious climate goals.

Biden Administration, Climate Action, Climate Change, Environment, Environmental Protection

FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Releases Agency Climate Adaptation Plans, Demonstrates Leadership in Building Climate Resilience

This fact sheet on the Biden-Harris Administration’s agency climate adaptation plans to build climate resilience was provided by the White House:

Across the country, communities are experiencing the devastating impacts of climate change. From record-high average temperatures and extreme heat to changing precipitation patterns and sea-level rise, climate impacts – including disasters made worse by climate change – are affecting every corner of society and every community in America. The magnitude of challenges posed by the climate crisis was underscored last year when the nation endured a record 28 individual billion-dollar extreme weather and climate disasters that caused more than $90 billion in aggregate damage. Just this week, more than 82 million Americans have been under heat alerts due to extreme temperatures made worse by climate change. That is why President Biden is leading the most ambitious climate, conservation, and environmental justice agenda in history, which includes directing federal agencies to lead by example.

The Biden-Harris Administration released updated Climate Adaptation Plans developed by more than 20 federal agencies that expand agency efforts to ensure their facilities, employees, resources, and operations are increasingly resilient to climate change impacts like extreme weather. This work advances the Biden-Harris Administration’s National Climate Resilience Framework, which helps to align climate resilience investments across the public and private sector through common principles and opportunities for action to build a climate-resilient nation. These efforts are backed by President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, through which more than $50 billion is being delivered to advance climate adaptation and resilience across the nation, including in communities that are the most vulnerable to climate impacts.

At the beginning of his Administration, President Biden tasked agencies with leading a whole-of-government effort to address climate change through Executive Order 14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. Federal agencies released initial Climate Adaptation Plans in 2021 and progress reports outlining advancements toward achieving their adaptation goals in 2022. With more than 300,000 buildings, four million employees, 640 million acres of public land, and $700 billion in annual purchases of goods and services, the federal government must continue to be a leader and partner in advancing adaptation and resilience.

In coordination with the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), agencies updated their Climate Adaptation Plans for 2024 to 2027 to better integrate climate risk across their mission, operations, and asset management, including:

  • Combining historical data and projections to assess exposure of assets to climate-related hazards including extreme heat and precipitation, sea level rise, flooding, and wildfire;
    • Expanding the operational focus on managing climate risk to facilities and supply chains to include federal employees and federal lands and waters;
    • Broadening the mission focus to describe mainstreaming adaptation into agency policies, programs, planning, budget formulation, and external funding;

Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is making available more than 20 updated Climate Adaptation Plans from major federal agencies. Highlights of key actions to address the effects of climate change on agency operations and mission-delivery include:

  • Building facility climate resilience. Agencies are retrofitting and upgrading federal buildings to better withstand climate hazards and provide emergency backup systems for power, water, and communications. For example, the Department of Defense’s Tyndall Air Force Base is working with local, state, and national partners to build an “Installation of the Future,” which includes using updated building codes that capture future conditions, and constructing living shorelines adjacent to the base to preserve water quality, enhance overall ecosystem health, and strengthen flood resilience. The General Services Administration (GSA) is integrating localized flood risk information into its asset management systems, asset planning processes, and site acquisition guidance for GSA-controlled, federally owned buildings.
    • Fostering a climate-ready workforce. Agencies are establishing protocols to ensure continuity of operations and safeguard federal employee wellbeing in the face of increasing exposure to climate-related hazards. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration within the Department of Labor is providing resources to help federal agencies address employee exposure to climate hazards such as extreme heat, flooding, and wildfires, with guidance on how to manage impacts and exposure to these hazards. To ensure employee safety, the Department of Energy is enhancing communication systems to alert employees to climate hazards in the workplace and, where needed, improving air filtration standards to manage health impacts of wildfire smoke.
    • Developing climate-resilient supply chains. Agencies are assessing mission-critical supply chains, diversifying their suppliers, and encouraging climate-smart sourcing to enhance resilience to climate-related disruptions. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is developing a toolset to analyze risks and address impacts from climate change and real-time disaster disruption on NASA’s supply chains. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is evaluating suppliers’ locations, infrastructure, and vulnerability to climate-related risks, including identifying critical supply chain nodes vulnerable to climate change impacts, such as ports, warehouses, and transportation routes.
    • Managing lands and waters for climate adaptation and resilience. Federal land and water management agencies are protecting, connecting, and conserving federal lands and waters to provide strongholds for species and enhance community wellbeing in a changing climate. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) within the Department of Commerce continues to advance its Mission Iconic Reefs Initiative, a first-of-its-kind effort to restore coral reef sites and promote coastal resilience to climate impacts in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The Department of the Interior is advancing “Keystone Initiatives” that include restoring Atlantic salt marshes to buffer coastal communities to flooding, supporting watershed restoration projects in the Klamath Basin to improve drought resilience, conducting fuels management activities in sagebrush ecosystems to manage wildfire risk.
    • Applying climate data and tools to decision-making. Agencies are using data and tools to better understand climate risks and inform decisions and investments. CEQ worked with NOAA to develop a beta screening tool that enabled agencies to overlay their buildings and employee data with climate hazard data to understand where agencies may be most exposed to climate-related hazards. Agencies are developing their own internal tools to understand site-specific climate risks to their assets and use that risk information to inform their investments. The Department of Transportation’s Climate Hazard Exposure and Resilience Tool integrates high-quality, publicly available natural hazard and climate projection data layers with vulnerability assessments from site managers to present a climate risk score for each facility or asset. The Department of Justice’s Facility Climate Hazard Assessment Tool supports components in assessing the extent to which their real property assets are exposed to current and future climate hazards, including coastal flooding, extreme heat, drought, wildfire, riverine flooding, hurricanes, and tornadoes.
    • Developing climate-informed policies and programs. Agencies are incorporating consideration of climate impacts and adaptation actions in federal policies and guidance, where relevant. For example, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service is updating or proposing climate-informed revisions to guidance and policies related to silviculture practices, beneficial uses of forest restoration byproducts, recreation, and designated areas planning, habitat and water resource management, and forest-level land management planning. The Department of Veterans Affairs is integrating health, demographic, and climate change information to anticipate the effects of climate change on Veterans’ health and plan for adjustments to their program delivery in the future. The Environmental Protection Agency is integrating consideration of climate risks into multiple actions as appropriate and where consistent with its statutory authorities: for example, in the development of rules, policy and guidance; permitting and environmental reviews; in monitoring, enforcement, and compliance activities; and in grant making.
    • Integrating climate resilience into external funding opportunities. Agencies are encouraging the consideration of climate impacts on federally-supported projects and advancing climate resilience through federal project delivery and grant-making, including incorporating climate-smart infrastructure practices across the Administration’s historic infrastructure investments. Department of State Bureaus have reviewed grant and foreign assistance announcements and requirements to ensure relevant grants and foreign assistance include climate risk and adaptation considerations. The Department of Housing and Urban Development is including climate change preference points in Notices of Funding Opportunities to encourage applications that invest in climate resilience, energy efficiency, and renewable energy. The Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency continues to incentivize and support climate adaptation at state and local levels via financial assistance programs such as the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, the Flood Mitigation Assistance program, and the Building Resilient Infrastructure in Communities program.

The agencies releasing updated Climate Adaptation Plans are:

  • Army Corps of Engineers
    • Department of Agriculture
    • Department of Commerce
    • Department of Defense
    • Department of Education
    • Department of Energy
    • Department of Health and Human Services
    • Department of Homeland Security
    • Department of Housing and Urban Development
    • Department of the Interior
    • Department of Justice
    • Department of Labor
    • Department of State
    • Department of the Treasury
    • Department of Transportation
    • Department of Veterans Affairs
    • Environmental Protection Agency
    • General Services Administration
    • National Aeronautics and Space Administration
    • National Archives and Records Administration
    • National Capital Planning Commission
    • Smithsonian Institution
    • Social Security Administration
    • Tennessee Valley Authority

All plans are available at www.sustainability.gov/adaptation.

Biden Administration, Gun Violence Prevention, News & Photo Features

President Biden Addresses Everytown’s Gun Sense University: ‘You’ve helped power a movement that is turning this cause into reality…Keep it up’

Less than two hours after hearing his only surviving son, Hunter, was found guilty of 3 gun possession offenses, President Joe Biden stood steadfast to uphold policies and laws to reduce America’s gun violence epidemic and change America’s cultural idolatry with guns. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com via MSNBC.

Less than two hours after hearing his only surviving son, Hunter, was found guilty of 3 gun possession offenses, President Joe Biden stood steadfast to uphold policies and laws to reduce America’s gun violence epidemic and change America’s cultural idolatry with guns. In that moment, he did two critical things befitting a president and a man of character and commitment: he upheld the rule of Law and the judicial process, saying he would respect the jury’s verdict and would not pardon his son, and vowed to continue the yeoman’s job of reversing America’s uniquely horrendous level of gun violence. (See: Biden Lauds Everytown, Moms Demand Action GunSense Activists; Points to Historic Progress But More to Do to Stem Gun Violence). –Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Here is an edited transcript of his remarks:

Julvonnia, I know from experience it takes extraordinary courage for you to stand up here and retell your son’s story — and many of you who have lost someone to gun violence.  It’s been a passion of mine for a long, long time. 

It’s the reason way back, a long time ago, I authored the Violence Against Women Act, which no one thought made any sense at the time.  It had — I had a lot of trouble getting people to think we could make a difference. 

But the fact of the matter is I remember well when you first started it with me — this extraordinary courage.  You know, through your words, you help ensure that your son and all the victims of gun violence are not forgotten.  They didn’t die in vain.  Through your love, you help prevent the next tragedy.  It saves lives. 

And through your actions, you remember us — we’ll never let go of one thing that we must never, never lose.  And I mean this.  I know it’s hard because I’ve gotten those phone calls, too, saying I lost a son, a daughter, a wife.  I know what it’s like.  But guess what?  Never give up on hope — hope, hope, hope.  (Applause.)  

I give you my word.  I know what that feels — that black hole when you receive that phone call that seems like you’re — black hole in your chest — you’re being sucked into it.  Just showing up here and all the work you’ve done takes some courage because it reminds you of the mo- — moment you got that phone call.  It reminds you, no matter how long it goes, until y- — it just — it’s hard.  But you’re so — you’re ma- — you’re making such a difference.  The main reason I’m here is to say — and I mean this from the bottom of my heart –…

Folks, to Everytown and all the leaders and advocates here today, I want to thank you for the dedication to this vital issue you’ve shown.

And to all the survivors, veterans, families, moms who have turned their pain and your purpose into the loss and you’re determined to not focus on your anger but on what you can do.

Look, folks, you’ve helped power a movement that is turning this cause into reality — especially young people, who demanded our nation do better to protect us all — (applause) — who protested, who organized, who voted, who ran for office, and, yes, who marched for their lives.  (Applause.) 

From my perspective, today is about celebrating you.  You’re the reason I’m so optimistic about the future of our country, and I mean that.

In two weeks, we’ll mark the second anniversary of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.  (Applause.)  It’s the most significant gun legislation in nearly 30 years, and we passed it only because you gone out and vou worked like hell to get it done.  May have the idea, but you got it ma- — you made it happen. 

It was designed to reduce gun violence and save lives.  And I’m so proud of the tremendous progress we’ve made since then. 

You know, the year before I came to the presidency, the murder rate was the highest increase on record.  Last year, we saw the largest decrease of murder in the history of (inaudible).  (Applause.)  And those rates are continuing to fall faster than ever. 

Last year, we also saw one of the lowest rates of all violent crime in nearly 50 years.  Murder, rape, aggravated assault, robbery all dropped sharply, along with burglary and property crime.  (Applause.)  Becau- — this matters. 

So much of this progress is because — and I’m not just trying to be solicitous — it’s because of you.  Don’t underestimate what you have done.  It’s amazing what you have done.  You changed people’s minds — your neighbors, your friends, the folks down at the restaurant, the folks at the grocery store.

Through the American Rescue Plan, I was able to invest $15 billion, the largest investment ever to reduce crime.  And we built on that progress, with your help, the Bipa- — (applause) — through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. 

And here’s how.  First, the act is helping reduce community violence and domestic violence.  It invests $250 million in violence intervention programs all across the country.  (Applause.)  People are now — my daughter is a social worker working with violence against women.  What people don’t realize is these things matter.  They change attitudes. 

We’ve already funded nearly 80 programs and counting.  We also made gun trafficking and straw purchasing a federal crime for the first time, giving prosecutors the legal tools to charge traffickers and hold them accountable for the more severe penalties that are available.  (Applause.) 

Additionally, the law strengthens background checks for anyone under the age of 21 trying to purchase a firearm.  And it’s about time.  There’s more we have to do there.  It’s a big deal.  (Applause.)  Since the law was passed and implemented, the FBI has stopped more than 700 sales of firearms for individuals under the age of 21. 

And about 20,000 unlicensed firearms dealer are now required to become licensed to run background checks — (applause) — which will keep guns out of dangerous hands. 

Second, the act helps stops mass shootings, provides $750 million to state — to — to states to implement their crisis interventions like red flag laws that temporarily remove firearms from those who are in danger to themselves or others.  (Applause.)  

It also gives $1.3 billion to thousands of schools across the country to build a safer learning environments, including (applause) updating safety plans, installing security equipment, hiring mental health professionals and school resource officers — (applause) — I’m married to a full-time teacher; I get it — (applause) — as well as violence intervention teams.

Folks, look, third, the act invests over $1 billion, the largest one-time investment ever in mental health — youth mental health in our schools — (applause) — to help them deal with grief and trauma resulting in gun violence.  I’ve attended too many mass shootings — I’ve gone to too many schools across America and stood there and looked at the faces of those young children who made it and look at all the families that lost somebody.  It’s tragic.  But it needs help.  They need help to get through it.

It includes an additional 14,000 mental health professionals to be hired and trained in our schools — to work in our schools full time.  That’s 14,000 more.  And — (applause) — and over 170,000 Americans across the country have been trained to identify when someone is having a mental health crisis and connect them to the help they need.  (Applause.) 

By the way, one of the reasons I wrote the latest veterans bill was because more veterans and more active-duty personnel are dying of suicide than any combat zone.  (Applause.)  It matters. 

And, folks, this historic law is already saving lives.  But there is still so much more to do to maximize the benefits of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. 

That’s why, last September, I established the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention.  (Applause.)  And I mean it.  We got first-rate professionals there and overseen by my incredible Vice President — (applause) — who is a pretty fierce prosecutor as well — to drive and coordinate government and nationwide effort to reduce gun violence in America.  That’s why we did it.  And to send a clear message about how important this issue is to me, to you, and to the entire country.

President Joe Biden was cheered on at Everytown’s Gun Sense University, where he thanked the Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action activists for creating a movement that is changing America’s gun culture © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com via MSNBC.

Folks — (applause) — you’re changing the nation.  You really are.  You’re changing the nation.  It builds upon the dozen of executive actions my administration has taken to reduce gun violence — more than any of my predecessors, and I suspect more than all of them combined — everything from cracking down on ghost guns, gun trafficking, and so much more.  

Folks, we’re not stopping there.  It’s time, once again, to do what I did when I was a senator: ban assault weapons.  (Applause.)  I mean it. 

AUDIENCE:  Four more years!  Four more years!  Four more years! 

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you. 

Who in God’s name needs a magazine which can hold 200 shells?

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Nobody!

THE PRESIDENT:  Nobody.  That’s right….

But think about it.  They’re weapons of war. 

And, by the way, it’s time we establish universal background checks — (applause) — and require the safe storage of firearms.  We should hold — (applause) — we should hold families responsible if they don’t provide those locks on those guns…. 

And, by the way, this is the most important: The only industry in America that has immunity are gun dealers.  We got to end it — (applause) — end it now.  No, I mean it.

Imagine — imagine if we gave — if we gave tobacco an exception they could not be prosecuted.  We — what would happen?  We’d still — a thousand more people would be dying of cancer because of smoke inhalation. 

It’s time we increase funding for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and Explosives and other law enforcement agencies as well — (applause) — to solve the crimes faster.  

Look, unfortunately — this is the only partisan thing I’m going to say — the congressional Republicans oppose all of these — every one of these.  Instead of trying to stop our ban on ghost gun kits that can commit crimes, they’re working like hell to stop it.  They want to abolish the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and Explosives, which is responsible for fighting gun crimes. 

You can’t be pro law enforcement and say you are pro law enforcement and be pro abolishing the AFT.  (Applause.)  You can’t do it.  It’s outrageous…

What in God’s name is the rationale for taking away the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms?

After a school shooting in Iowa that killed a student and a teacher, my predecessor was asked about it.  You remember what he said.  He said, “Have to get over it.”  Hell no, we don’t have to get over it.  (Applause.)  We got to stop it.  We got to stop it and stop it now.  (Applause.)

More children are killed in America by guns than cancer and car accidents combined.  (Applause.)  My predecessor told the NRA convention recently he’s proud that, quote, “I did nothing on guns when I was president.”  And by doing nothing, he made the situation considerably worse. 

That’s why Everytown, why this summit, why all of you here today are so damn important.  We need you.  We need you to overcome the unrelenting opposition of the gun lobby, gun manufacturers, and so many politicians when they oppose commonsense gun legislation. 

When I was no longer the vice president, I became a professor at the University of — of Pennsylvania.  Before that, I taught a constitutional law class, and so I taught the Second Amendment. 

There’s never been a time that says you can own anything you want.  You couldn’t own a cannon during the Civil War.  (Laughter.).. 
And, by the way, if they want to think they — it’s to take on government if we get out of line, which they’re talking again about — well, guess what?  They need F-15s.  They don’t need a rifle.  (Laughter.)

Folks, look, this is crazy, what we’re talking about.  Because whether we’re Democrats or Republicans, we want all families to be safe.  (Applause.)  We all want to drop them off at a house of worship, a mall, a movie theater, a school without worrying if it’s the last time I’m going to get to see them.  (Applause.)  We all want our kids to have the freedom to learn how to read and write in schools instead of learning how to duck and cover, for God sake.  (Applause.) 

And above all — above all, we all agree: We are not finished.  (Applause.)  Look, no single — no single action can solve the entirety of the gun violence epidemic.  But together, our efforts, your efforts are saving lives. 

You can help rally a nation with a sense of urgency and seriousness of purpose.  You’re changing the culture.  We are proving we can do more than just thoughts and prayers — just more than thoughts and prayers.  You’re changing politics.  You’re proving that you’re powerful and you’re relentless, and I mean that.  

Let me close with this.  I know many people here have been impacted by gun violence and are tired and frustrated.  (Applause.)  No — no, I — I know.  I’ve been to too many — I’ve literally spoken with well over a thousand families at these events that I’ve attended for mass shootings.  And the look in their eyes — you can almost feel that black hole they feel in the center of their chest, like they’re being sucked in, there’s no way out.  And if they have remaining children, you look at the children and they wonder, “Mommy, Daddy, how about me?”

And I know you may wonder: Are we ever going to make full progress that we need to make?  I’m here to tell you we have no choice.  We cannot give up trying for all the lives lost and all those who still there to save.  We’re going to get there. 

I have no illusions about how difficult it may be.  But I also have no illusions about the people in this room.

You’re changing the attitude of the public — I really mean it.  I’m going back to why I got here in the first place.  That is to say thank you.

I can come up with all these ideas about the laws we can change to make it easier, but you’re changing people’s lives.  You’re convincing your neighbors and people this is necessary.  It’s beginning to move.

Look at what we’ve already done around the community.  Look at the movement you’ve built, the elected officials standing with you.  Look at all the mothers organizations across the country. 

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Mr. President, you are making a change too!  I love you so much!  (Inaudible.)  (Laughter and applause.)

THE PRESIDENT:    (Applause.) Look —

When there’s a crisis, half of what people affected by a crisis have to know: Is anybody listening?  Do you hear me?  Do they hear what we’re saying?

Listen to the young people who are speaking out.  That’s the power of the memory of your loved ones.  That’s the power of this movement.  That’s the power of America.

We just have to keep going and keep the faith and remember who we are.  We are the United States of America, and there is nothing beyond our capacity when we act and do it together.  (Applause.) So, God bless you all.  And may God protect our troops.  (Applause.)

Thank you, thank you, thank you.  Keep it up.  (Applause.) Thank you.

Biden Administration, News & Photo Features, Racism, Racial Equity

Black Voters Want to Know ‘What Biden Has Done for Me Lately’? Answer: A LOT

President Biden comes to Atlanta in January, 2022, to speak out on behalf of voting rights and protecting democracy and free and fair elections © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com via MSNBC

I can’t fathom the absurdity of polls that suggest young Black men are pulling their support for Biden in favor of Trump because Biden hasn’t personally visited every impoverished neighborhood! And yet, there is discussion that Biden wasn’t going to be welcomed as the commencement speaker at Morehouse College, despite appropriating record amounts of aid to HBCUs, cancelling student debt for millions, who has the most racially and gender diverse administration and confirmed more diverse judges, including the first Black woman to the Supreme Court, and all he has done to make economic, social, criminal, environmental, political justice and equity the basis for every policy and program he has implemented! Not to mention naming the first woman of color his Vice President. They want to support Trump, who has been overtly racist for his entire life (called for the Central Park 5, later exonerated, to be executed, was cited for discriminating against Blacks in housing), who called out the National Guard and wanted to shoot George Floyd protesters, who could care less about black maternal mortality rates and wants to repeal the cost cap on insulin and Obamacare? Biden celebrated the 70th anniversary of the hallmark Brown v. Board of Education decision and is promoting universal pre-K, parental leave and affordable childcare, while Trump judges seek to reverse and render Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs and affirmative action “unconstitutional.” And if Blacks either vote for Trump or do not vote, Biden will lose reelection and Trump will reverse every policy that has benefited minority communities, from gun violence prevention, promoting access to affordable housing and ridding communities of toxic pollution, to promoting free and fair access to the ballot box.

Here are Biden’s remarks during interviews on two Black radio shows, and a memo from Trey Baker, Senior Advisor, Biden-Harris 2024, outlining actual achievements instead of actual pandering (“What have Democrats done for you lately?” – Answer, A LOT) – Karen Rubin, news-photos-features.com

President Biden Underscores Stakes of 2024
Election to Black Voters

Interviews with President Biden aired on two Black radio shows, V-103’s The Big Tigger Show with Darian “Big Tigger” Morgan in Atlanta, Georgia and 101.7 The Truth with Sherwin Hughes in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he underscored the stakes of this election. On the airwaves, President Biden highlighted the progress his administration has made for Black Americans from creating millions of jobs for Black workers to forgiving billions in student loan debt directly working to close the racial wealth gap – in contrast with Donald Trump, who tried to rip away health care from millions of Black Americans by repealing the Affordable Care Act, raised health care costs, and cut taxes for the wealthy at the expense of the middle class.

Read Excerpts from President Biden’s Interviews Below

V-103, The Big Tigger Show in Atlanta, Georgia

On The Biden-Harris Administration’s Accomplishments for Black Americans: “The first most important thing we can do is make sure the Affordable Health Care Act is not cut by [Donald Trump]. He says he’s gonna do it. […] We pay the most expensive drug costs in the world and, you know, we brought down, as I said, capped insulin costs at 35 bucks instead of 400. More Black families have coverage under the ACA. Black enrollment has nearly doubled, saving families $800 a month on premiums. We took on Big Pharma so Medicare can now negotiate prices. Under Trump uninsurance rates went up, not down. He tried to repeal Obamacare and the ACA 50 times and if he succeeds, it would raise premiums $12,000 for Georgia middle-class families. He wants to cut Social Security and he wants to make sure that Medicare is cut as well, increasing costs, giving tax breaks to the super wealthy. The bottom line here is that this is a guy who is all about wanting to make all the cuts we can make for multi-billionaires and millionaires tax breaks, significant tax breaks, I have a completely different view of it. […]”

On How Donald Trump Hurt the Black Community: “Look, Trump hurt Black people every chance he got as President. Black unemployment, uninsurance rates went up under Trump. Trump’s tax scam reinforced discrimination. Typical white household got double, double cuts of the typical Black household. The botched COVID-19 response was leaving Black people dead, Black-owned businesses shuttered, he pushed to bring back stop and frisk law. Remember who Trump is. He falsely accused the Central Park Five. He’s the the founder of birtherism. He tried to repeal Obamacare the first time. Now he’s promised to do even more damage to Black people.”

On the Importance of Voting: “And so you know, your vote is your voice. Lots of close elections these last couple and every vote counts. I ran in 2020 because democracy was at stake and I think it still is. Because folks like you turned out to vote in 2020, we have made remarkable progress. Trump has decided he’s going to take it all down. For example, one of the things I did in the legislation [was] innovating the infrastructure, replacing every lead pipe in Georgia, every single one, so that now the kids, you’re not gonna worry about your kid in school or at home, drinking water that has lead in it that causes brain damage. You know, making sure that everybody has access to affordable internet, affordable and available, and that’s costing billions of dollars. We’re paying for it to get it done so everybody has access. Trump’s presidency could mean a return to chaos, division and violence, MAGA extremism.”

The Truth with Sherwin Hughes in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

On The Biden-Harris Administration’s Accomplishments for Black Americans: “We sent $1,400 checks to people who were having trouble. Black child poverty was cut in half in 2021. We build black wealth, 15 million jobs nationwide, more than 2.5 million for Black Americans. Black wealth is up 60% since the pandemic. Homeownership is up and I’m fighting back against the [racial] bias in home appraisal. If the same home [is] built on one side of a highway in the Black community, as built in the white community, they devalue the home in the Black community. You know, 200,000 new business applications in Wisconsin after investing hundreds of millions of dollars in small businesses. We have 76,000 Black homeowners, more than $800 annually on their FHA insurance mortgage, we saved them. And look and we also relieved student debt, $160 billion in student loan debt for 4.6 million borrowers, many of them Black borrowers, and a plan to relieve student loan debt for 30 million overall. And as I said, you know, we lower prescription drug prices. We’re also in a position where we invest in communities too long left out, left behind. […] Trump has a very different view of the community. […] Trump, you know, he’s still accusing the Central Park Five, he’s the founder of birtherism, he’s tried to repeal Obamacare. He hasn’t, he’s done virtually nothing and he wants to cut access to voting. The whole range of things make a fundamental difference.”

On What’s at Stake this November: “A great deal is at stake, everything that all the progress we’ve made is at stake. For example, right now we’ve lowered health care costs, we’ve been able to walk in and make sure we forgive student debt…. We provided billions of dollars to HBCUs to give them a fighting chance. We’ve changed prescription drug costs, by allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices so that people on insulin are paying 35 bucks a month instead of 400 bucks a month. And all prescription drugs can be limited to $2,000 a year, you know, cancer drugs ten, 12, $14,000. We are strengthening Medicare. Look, you know, we stand up for our principles. Our democracy is at stake, in fact. Look what he’s doing with Putin and with Kim Jong Un of North Korea. Look at him saying ‘if we don’t think a country is paying enough for their own defense, then they get invaded by the Russians or anyone else, so that’s up to them. We are not gonna help.’ He has a fundamentally different view than the vast majority of Republicans, I might add in the past, as well as me and the Democratic Party..”

Memo: Biden-Harris 2024 Black Outreach

From: Trey Baker, Biden-Harris 2024 Sr. Advisor

Since day one, the Biden-Harris campaign has been authentic and consistent in our efforts to reach Black voters and ensure they are aware that no other administration in modern history has delivered for Black America in the way Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have.  From historic investments and engagement with Black media, to extensive travel by President Biden and Vice President Harris as well as innovative organizing programs that highlight the administration’s commitment to generating Black wealth – we are meeting Black voters where they are.

This weekend is a continuation of that work. The President will attend an event on Saturday in Georgia focused on engaging Black voters, which will provide our Georgia state team additional support in their efforts to reach and organize the community. Serving in his official capacity, the President will then deliver the commencement address at Morehouse College Sunday morning. As Biden-Harris Co-Chair and Morehouse Alum Cedric Richmond perfectly stated, Morehouse College remains one of the most valued, celebrated and distinguished institutions of higher learning in the United States and is responsible for educating some of the most significant Black men in our country’s history. Given the way the Biden-Harris Administration has delivered for Black America, and HBCUs, there is no better speaker for this year’s commencement ceremony than President Biden.

During the weekend, President Biden will also engage with local Black-owned small businesses as he frequently does on his trips. The President will visit a Black-owned small business in Detroit on Sunday ahead of his NAACP speech, and will have a valuable discussion with the business owners focused on this administration’s continued effort to build Black wealth and close the racial wealth gap. Black-owned small businesses have been critical to the Biden-Harris organizing strategy. An organizing model we developed with Detroit small businesses in March is now being rolled out across our battleground states, this month. The President will close out his weekend swing by delivering the keynote address at the NAACP Freedom Fund dinner, where he will once again talk directly to Black America about the issues we care about most.

No administration has delivered for Black America like Joe & Kamala

After Donald Trump failed us, no administration has delivered for Black America like President Biden and Vice-President Harris. While the Black unemployment rate skyrocketed under Trump, the Biden-Harris administration helped to create over 2.5 million jobs for Black workers, resulting in record low Black unemployment – Black business ownership is also growing at the fastest pace in 30 years.  After Donald Trump’s failed PPP launch helped his rich friends at the expense of minority businesses, President Biden worked closely with small businesses to recover. The share of Black households owning a business has now doubled since the pandemic. The President’s student loan forgiveness program has also disproportionately benefited Black Americans, who received nearly $160 billion in student loan debt forgiven. That’s right – BILLION. This measure is directly working to increase Black wealth and close the racial wealth gap. Even after Donald Trump’s Supreme Court Justices tried to stop us. These efforts are directly working to close the racial wealth gap as Black students take on 85% more educational debt than their white counterparts, and 86% of Black students graduate with debt.

Black child poverty was cut in half during the pandemic through the President’s Child Tax Credit, which we are fighting to bring back, despite resistance from MAGA Republicans in the House and Senate. More Black Americans have healthcare coverage than ever before, while Trump remains obsessed with ripping away our healthcare coverage by repealing Obamacare, the signature accomplishment of the first Black President. The President and Vice-President have also tackled the Black Maternal Health Crisis by allowing states to expand Medicaid postpartum coverage from just 60 days to 12 months—impacting approximately 65% of births for Black mothers. And, let’s not forget that Joe Biden has confirmed more Black women to the federal bench than all other Presidents combined.

No campaign has invested in Black outreach like we have

In September of last year, this campaign announced the earliest and largest investment in outreach to Black voters of any reelection campaign in history. Then, earlier this year, on the heels of the President’s electric State of the Union address, our March Month of Action. During the month of March the President and Vice President traveled to every single battleground, putting a focus on key black communities, such as Atlanta, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and others, talking directly to Black voters. President Biden had dinner with Eric Fitts, a North Carolina teacher who benefited from President Biden’s student loan relief program, and his two sons. The TikTok taken by one son during the visit has been viewed over 5 million times. In Saginaw, Michigan, the President also met with a father and son golfing team. Their meeting was first shared on Instagram by The Black Man Can, who has over 1 million followers.

Throughout the month of May, we are continuing these efforts with a seven-figure investment in Black media to communicate directly with voters where they are. The President has done more Black radio interviews than any other medium thus far on the campaign – eleven interviews this year alone.  This week, he spoke with Big Tigger, a major figure of our culture, ahead of his visit to Morehouse.

We’ve also had a dedicated campaign presence at festivals like J.Cole’s Dreamville Fest in North Carolina and engagement with the voters who traveled to Las Vegas for the Lovers & Friends Festival, increasing our reach with young black voters in particular. The Vice President and Second Gentleman have also engaged with cultural influencers like Sheryl Lee Ralph and Khadeen Ellis to talk about what’s at stake for reproductive rights for Black Americans.

We’ve partnered with black-owned small businesses to expand our organizing presence in key battleground states. In Michigan, Team Biden-Harris spent March and April engaging with thousands of small business owners — centered in communities of color — to leverage their networks for visibility and outreach. Beginning this month, Team Biden-Harris is scaling its small business outreach program to all of our battlegrounds.  Meanwhile, Donald Trump and the RNC are shutting down their much vaunted diversity centers.

The Vice President is also in the middle of an Economic Opportunity Tour in her official capacity, which focuses heavily on how the administration is putting Black wealth front and center.

Bottom Line: From the very beginning the President and Vice President have been clear that this campaign will not take a single voter for granted. We are not, and will not, parachute into these communities at the last minute, expecting their vote. Every day, from now until election day, we will continue working diligently to ensure that come November, Black voters send Joe Biden and Kamala Harris back to the White House to continue delivering for Black America in unprecedented ways.


Biden Administration, Environment, Environmental Protection, Health Care, News & Photo Features

FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Announces $3 Billion to Replace Toxic Lead Pipes and Deliver Clean Drinking Water to Communities Across the Country

$3 billion in funding from President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda will accelerate progress toward the President’s commitment to replace every lead pipe in the country within a decade – that is if Biden and Democrats remain in power. This fact sheet is provided by the White House:

Ashokan Reservoir, New York. $3 billion in funding from President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda will accelerate progress toward the President’s commitment to replace every lead pipe in the country within a decade © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

President Biden believes that every American should be able to turn on the tap and drink clean, safe water. But over 9 million homes, schools, day cares, and businesses receive their water through a lead pipe, putting people at risk of lead exposure. Lead is a neurotoxin that can irreversibly harm brain development in children, and it can also accumulate in the bones and teeth, damage the kidneys, and interfere with the production of red blood cells needed to carry oxygen. Due to decades of inequitable infrastructure development and underinvestment, lead poisoning disproportionately affects low-income communities and communities of color. There is no safe level of exposure to lead. That is why the President made a commitment to replace every lead pipe in the country within a decade and coordinated a whole of government effort to deploy resources and leverage every tool across federal, state and local government to address lead hazards through the Lead Pipe and Paint Action Plan. 

As part of this unprecedented commitment, President Biden traveled to Wilmington, North Carolina, to announce $3 billion through his Investing in America agenda to replace toxic lead pipes. This investment, administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is part of the historic $15 billion in dedicated funding for lead pipe replacement provided by the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The announcement delivers funding to every state and U.S. territory to help address lead in drinking water while creating good-paying jobs, many of them union jobs. In addition, this program funding is part of the President’s Justice40 Initiative, which set a goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities, and is helping address the inequities of lead exposure.

Additionally, to further reduce lead exposure, the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced nearly $90 million in available funding to reduce residential health hazards in public housing, including lead-based paint hazards, carbon monoxide, mold, radon, fire safety, and asbestos, advancing the President’s Lead Pipe and Paint Action Plan.

The announcement from the EPA builds on more than $20 billion in water infrastructure investments that state and local governments have made through the President’s American Rescue Plan. North Carolina has invested close to $2 billion from the American Rescue Plan in more than 800 clean water, wastewater, and stormwater projects across the state and is using another $150 million to test for and remove lead hazards in every school and child care center across the state, a historic effort to remove lead from North Carolina schools.

In Wilmington, North Carolina, President Biden announced $76 million from his Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for lead pipe replacement across the state. The President also met with faculty and students from a Wilmington school that replaced a water fountain with high levels of lead with funding from his American Rescue Plan.

EPA estimates North Carolina has an estimated 300,000 lead pipes, and today the President will highlight his goal of replacing every lead pipe in the state. With today’s new investment of $76 million, the President has now delivered $250 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding to North Carolina for lead pipe replacement. This funding has already reached over 60 communities across the state to kick start lead pipe identification and replacement efforts.

One of these communities is Wilmington, North Carolina, which has already received over $4 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to identify and replace 325 lead pipes. Today, President Biden is announcing that the first Bipartisan Infrastructure Law-funded lead pipe replacement in Wilmington is now underway, kicking off this project for the city.

Progress Replacing Lead Pipes Across America

The Biden-Harris Administration is taking action to accelerate lead pipe replacement in communities across the country. The total lead pipe replacement funding announced by the Administration to date will replace up to 1.7 million lead pipes, protecting countless families and children from lead exposure.

To ensure that communities that bear most of the burden of lead exposure are not left behind in this opportunity, EPA and the Department of Labor are partnering directly with disadvantaged communities across the country to provide the support and technical assistance they need to secure funding for and execute lead pipe replacement initiatives. EPA has partnered with over 40 communities to date, and last November announced it would partner with 200 more communities through the EPA Get the Lead Out Initiative.

This work is also creating good-paying jobs, many of them union jobs, in replacing lead pipes – and accelerating the development of a skilled water workforce. Unions including the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA), the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters, and the International Union of Operating Engineers are already training workers in lead pipe replacement and putting them to work on neighborhood blocks across the country. The EPA estimates that 200,000 jobs have been created by the Administration’s investments in drinking water infrastructure alone.

In addition, last November, EPA issued a proposal to strengthen its Lead and Copper Rule that would require water systems to replace lead pipes within 10 years and drive progress nationwide toward reducing lead exposure.

The examples below highlight several communities where the Administration’s investments are making an impact:

  • In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, $41 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has helped put the city on track to replace all its lead pipes within 10 years instead of the initially estimated 60 years. The city is using a high proportion of union labor to replace lead pipes, and will be one of four new White House Workforce Hub cities that were announced by President Biden last week.
     
  • Following a lead-in-water crisis, Benton Harbor, Michigan, successfully replaced all its lead pipes within just two years, fueled by $18 million in funding from the President’s American Rescue Plan.
     
  • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has received $42 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to replace lead pipes, and is on track to replace every lead pipe by 2026. Vice President Harris visited the city in February to highlight this progress in lead pipe replacement and announce new funding for clean water.
     
  • St. Paul, Minnesota, has received $16 million from the American Rescue Plan to replace lead pipes. This funding has enabled the city’s Lead-Free St. Paul program to target the replacement of all lead pipes by 2032 at no cost to residents.
     
  • Cincinnati, Ohio, passed an ordinance to develop a program to replace all lead pipes in line with the President’s goal, and authorized covering the cost of replacing private lead pipes that bring water to residents’ homes. A $20 million investment from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will support this work.
     
  • Tucson, Arizona, received $6.95 million to develop a Lead Service Line inventory for their nine public water systems. The city will use this inventory to develop a plan to replace lead service lines in the community and improve drinking water quality for residents – many of whom live in low-income and disadvantaged communities.
     
  • Denver, Colorado, has replaced almost 25,000 lead service lines since the program launched in 2020. Denver plans to replace another 5,000 this year and is on target to replace 100% by 2031, accelerating its lead pipe replacement due to Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding.
     
  • Last week, at the White House Water Summit, the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative launched its new Great Lakes Lead Pipes Partnership with three of its members – Chicago, Illinois, Detroit, Michigan, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This first-of-its kind, mayor-led effort to accelerate lead pipe replacement in cities with the heaviest lead burdens will provide a collaborative forum for metropolitan areas in the Great Lakes to share emerging best practices to encourage faster, more equitable replacement programs and overcome common challenges, including reducing replacement costs, improving community outreach, and spurring water workforce development.

Broader Administration Actions to Deliver Clean Water

The funding announced today is part of the over $50 billion provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to upgrade the nation’s water infrastructure – the largest investment in clean and safe water in American history. In addition, over $20 billion from the American Rescue Plan has been invested in water infrastructure, including lead pipe replacement, nationwide.

Beyond replacing lead pipes, these broader investments are helping to expand access to clean drinking water, improve wastewater and sanitation infrastructure, and remove per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination in water. The Administration has launched over 1,400 of these projects to deliver clean water to date.

Delivering Clean Drinking Water. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invests nearly $31 billion in funding to secure clean drinking water through infrastructure projects such as upgrading aging water mains and improving water treatment plants.

Improving Wastewater and Sanitation Infrastructure. Over 2 million people in the U.S. live without basic running water or sanitation systems in their homes. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invests nearly $13 billion to improve wastewater, sanitation, and stormwater infrastructure.

Tackling PFAS Pollution in Water. Exposure to PFAS “forever chemicals” in drinking water is linked to severe health impacts including deadly cancers, liver and heart damage, and developmental impacts in children. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invests $10 billion to address toxic PFAS pollution in water. In addition, this month EPA announced the first-ever national drinking water standard for PFAS , which will protect 100 million people from PFAS exposure.

Economy, Housing, Inequality

FACT SHEET: President Biden Announces Key Progress on Efforts to Close the Racial Wealth Gap

Under President Biden’s leadership, the home appraisal gap—an indicator of potential racial and ethnic bias—has shrunk by more than 40%
 
80% of Congressional Republicans are supporting a plan that would reverse this progress, while cutting Medicare, Social Security, and the Affordable Care Act

This fact sheet is provided by the White House:

Nearly three years ago at a speech to commemorate the centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre, President Biden committed to addressing racial inequities in the home appraisal process and increase the share of federal contract spending awarded to small disadvantaged businesses by 50%. During remarks at the National Action Network Convention, President Biden highlighted how his Administration is delivering on that promise and announce key progress being made to create opportunity in historically under-resourced communities and narrow the racial wealth gap.
  
While the President and Vice President continue working to close the racial wealth gap and create more opportunities for all Americans, 80% of Congressional Republicans are supporting a plan that would move the country backwards.  Their plan would defund the President’s executive orders on racial equity, while cutting Medicare, the Affordable Care Act, and Social Security—raising the Social Security retirement age in the process. Congressional Republicans would also roll back billions of dollars in investments and tax incentives that support small businesses as they shift to a clean economy.  Moreover, the Congressional Republican plan would also increase prescription drug, energy, and housing costs, while fighting for tax giveaways for the very rich and big corporations.
 
In direct contrast, closing the racial wealth gap has been central to the Biden-Harris Administration’s economic agenda, and the progress we are making under the President’s leadership is delivering for communities nationwide, including Black Americans. The President’s announcements today to build on this progress include:

Rooting out bias in the home appraisal process. The Federal Housing Finance Agency is releasing new data showing that the “appraisal gap”—the likelihood that homes in communities of color are undervalued compared to homes in majority-white communities—has been cut by more than 40% since the Biden-Harris Administration took action on appraisal bias. The data also show that some states have eliminated the gap entirely. In these states, families in communities of color are no more likely to have their home valued at less than the agreed contract price than are families in white communities. This means that more Black Americans and people of color are able to build greater wealth from owning a home.
 
While there can be many reasons why an individual home is valued below the agreed-upon contract price, systemic undervaluation in communities of color can indicate racial bias in the appraisal process.
 
On June 1, 2021, the centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre, President Biden announced the creation of the Interagency Task Force on Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity (PAVE): a first-of-its-kind effort to root out bias and advance equity in the home appraisal process. Since releasing the PAVE Action Plan in March 2022, the Task Force has made critical progress towards implementation, including major steps to empower consumers to take action against appraisal bias; prevent algorithmic bias in home valuation; and support a well-trained and more representative appraiser profession. 
 
Rooting out bias in appraisals can help narrow the racial wealth gap. According to a recent study, eliminating racial disparities in the amount of wealth families gain from owning a home would narrow the wealth gap by 16% between Black and white households and by 41% between Latino and white households.
 
Achieving record federal investment in small disadvantaged businesses. Today, President Biden is also announcing that in Fiscal Year 2023, agencies surpassed the President’s goal for federal contracting dollars going to small disadvantaged businesses (SDBs), awarding SDBs a record-breaking $76.2 billion, or 12.1% in federal contracts. This sets a new all-time record for federal dollars to SDBs, surpassing the record set by the Biden-Harris Administration last year of $69.9 billion, and illustrates continued progress towards the President’s goal of 15% to SDBs by 2025. Three consecutive years of record-breaking awards to SDBs underscores the Administration’s unwavering commitment to leveling the playing field for the Nation’s small businesses and ensuring that no talent is left on the sidelines, even in the face of legal attacks that seek to undercut the Administration’s efforts.
 
Increasing federal investments in under-resourced businesses not only helps more Americans realize their entrepreneurial dreams and strengthens the supplier base, but also narrows persistent wealth disparities. According to analysis from the White House Council of Economic Advisers, eliminating racial disparities in business ownership rates would narrow the wealth gap by an additional 22% between Black and white households and by an additional 17% between Latino and white households. Recognizing this historic opportunity, in 2021, the President set a bold goal of increasing the share of the more than $630 billion in contracting dollars going to SDBs each year, including Black, Latino and Asian American-owned small businesses, to 15% by 2025—or an increase of 50% from 2010.
 
Canceling student loan debt. The Biden-Harris Administration also today announced that it is canceling an additional $7.4 billion in student loan debt for 277,000 borrowers. This brings the total amount of debt relief approved by the Administration to $153 billion for 4.3 million Americans. Today’s announcement builds on the President’s announcement earlier this week, laying out his Administration’s plans that would cancel student debt for tens of millions of Americans, if implemented as proposed. These plans would cancel runaway interest for over 25 million borrowers, cancel loan debt for borrowers eligible for forgiveness programs but not enrolled in those programs, and cancel student debt for borrowers experiencing hardship in their daily lives preventing them from paying back their loans.
 
Black and Latino borrowers are more likely to experience growth in their student loan balances due to excessive interest accumulation. Four years after graduation, Black bachelor’s degree borrowers, on average, owe more than they borrowed. These plans would not only help create more financial stability for millions of working and middle-class families, they would also help address the disproportionate debt burden on communities of color and advance racial equity.
 
Today’s announcements build on the progress the President has made to leverage the full force of the Federal Government—including with the signing of two executive orders on advancing racial equity—in order to ensure the promise of America for all communities, including Black Americans. Here are just a few examples of how Bidenomics and the President’s Investing in America agenda are already delivering for Black Americans:

  • Under President Biden, the Black unemployment rate and gap between Black and white unemployment hit record lows. 
  • Black wealth is up 60% relative to pre-pandemic levels.
  • The share of Black business owners more than doubled between 2019 and 2022.
  • Black-owned businesses are being created at the fastest rate in 30 years.
Biden Administration, Health Care, News & Photo Features

Fact Sheet: Vice President Harris Announces Historic Advancements in Long-Term Care to Support the Care Economy

These advancements in long-term care to support the care economy are the latest the Biden-Harris Administration has taken to improve safety, provide support for care workers and family caregivers, and to expand access to affordable, high-quality care. This fact sheet is provided by the White House:

Vice President Harris is announcing two landmark final rules that fulfill the President’s commitment to safety in care, improving access to long-term care and the quality of caregiving jobs. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect and to have access to quality care. That’s why, today, Vice President Harris is announcing two landmark final rules that fulfill the President’s commitment to safety in care, improving access to long-term care and the quality of caregiving jobs. Ensuring that all Americans, including older Americans and people with disabilities, have access to care – including home-based care – that is safe, reliable, and of high quality is an important part of the President’s agenda and a part of the President’s broader commitment to care. Today’s announcements deliver on the President’s promise in the State of the Union to crack down on nursing homes that endanger resident safety as well as his historic Executive Order on Increasing Access to High-Quality Care and Supporting Caregivers, which included the most comprehensive set of executive actions any President has taken to improve care for millions of seniors and people with disabilities while supporting care workers and family caregivers.


Cracking Down on Inadequate Nursing Home Care


Medicare and Medicaid pay billions of dollars per year to ensure that 1.2 million Americans that receive care in nursing homes are cared for, yet too many nursing homes chronically understaff their facilities, leading to sub-standard or unsafe care. When facilities are understaffed, residents may go without basic necessities like baths, trips to the bathroom, and meals – and it is less safe when residents have a medical emergency. Understaffing can also have a disproportionate impact on women and people of color who make up a large proportion of the nursing home workforce because, without sufficient support, these dedicated workers can’t provide the care they know the residents deserve. In his 2022 State of the Union address, President Biden pledged that he would “protect seniors’ lives and life savings by cracking down on nursing homes that commit fraud, endanger patient safety, or prescribe drugs they don’t need.”

The Nursing Home Minimum Staffing Rule finalized today will require all nursing homes that receive federal funding through Medicare and Medicaid to have 3.48 hours per resident per day of total staffing, including a defined number from both registered nurses (0.55 hours per resident per day) and nurse aides (2.45 per resident per day). This means a facility with 100 residents would need at least two or three RNs and at least ten or eleven nurse aides as well as two additional nurse staff (which could be registered nurses, licensed professional nurses, or nurse aides) per shift to meet the minimum staffing standards. Many facilities would need to staff at a higher level based on their residents’ needs. It will also require facilities to have a registered nurse onsite 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to provide skilled nursing care, which will further improve nursing home safety. Adequate staffing is proven to be one of the measures most strongly associated with safety and good care outcomes.

To make sure nursing homes have the time they need to hire necessary staff, the requirements of this rule will be introduced in phases, with longer timeframes for rural communities. Limited, temporary exemptions will be available for both the 24/7 registered nurse requirement and the underlying staffing standards for nursing homes in workforce shortage areas that demonstrate a good faith effort to hire.

Strong transparency measures will ensure nursing home residents and their families are aware when a nursing home is using an exemption.

This rule will not only benefit residents and their families, it will also ensure that workers aren’t stretched too thin by having inadequate staff on site, which is currently a common reason for worker burnout and turnover. Workers who are on the frontlines interacting with residents and understanding their needs will also be given a voice in developing staffing plans for nursing homes. The Biden-Harris Administration also continues to invest in expanding the pipeline of nursing workers and other care workers, who are so essential to our economy, including through funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.


Improving Access to Home Care and the Quality of Home Care Jobs


Over seven million seniors and people with disabilities, alongside their families, rely on home and community-based services to provide for long-term care needs in their own homes and communities. This critical care is provided by a dedicated home care workforce, made up disproportionately by women of color, that often struggles to make ends meet due to low wages and few benefits. At the same time, home care is still very inaccessible for many Medicaid enrollees, with more than threequarters of home care providers not accepting new clients, leaving hundreds of thousands of older Americans and Americans with disabilities on waiting lists or struggling to afford the care they need.

The “Ensuring Access to Medicaid Services” final rule, finalized today, will help improve access to home care services as well as improve the quality caregiving jobs through its new provisions for home care. Specifically, the rule will ensure adequate compensation for home care workers by requiring that at least 80 percent of Medicaid payments for home care services go to workers’ wages. This policy would also allow states to take into account the unique experiences that small home care providers and providers in rural areas face while ensuring their employees receive their fair share of Medicaid payments and continued training as well as the delivery of quality care. Higher wages will likely reduce turnover, leading to higher quality of care for older adults and people with disabilities across the nation, as studies have shown. States will also be required to be more transparent in how much they pay for home care services and how they set those rates, increasing the accountability for home care providers. Finally, states will have to create a home care rate-setting advisory group made up of beneficiaries, home care workers and other key stakeholders to advise and consult on provider payment rates and direct compensation for direct care workers.


Strong Record on Improving Access to Care and Supporting Caregivers


Today’s new final rules are in addition to an already impressive track record on delivering on the President’s Executive Order on Care. Over the last year, the Biden-Harris Administration has:

  • Increased pay for care workers, including by proposing a rule to gradually increase pay for Head Start teachers by about $10,000, to reach parity with the salaries of public preschool teachers.
  • Cut child care costs for low-income families by finalizing a rule that will reduce or eliminate copayments for more than 100,000 working families, and lowering the cost of care for lower earning service members, thereby reducing the cost of child care for nearly two-thirds of children receiving care on military bases. Military families earning $45,000 would see a 34% decrease in the amount they pay for child care.

Supported family caregivers by making it easier for family caregivers to access Medicare beneficiary information and provide more support as they prepare for their loved ones to be discharged from the hospital. The Administration has also expanded access to mental health services for tens of thousands of family caregivers who are helping veterans