(PatriotWise.com)- A large group of congressional staffers is very concerned about the future for young generations in the country, and they want the two leaders of the Democratic Party to do something about it.
This week, the group of more than 200 staffers sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, demanding that they work on closing a deal on clean energy and climate change. The letter was signed anonymously only with the staffers’ initials.
It read, in part:
“We’ve crafted the legislation necessary to avert climate catastrophe. It’s time for you to pass it.
“Our country is nearing the end of a two-year window that represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to pass transformative climate policy. The silence on expansive climate justice policy on Capitol Hill this year has been deafening. We write to distance ourselves from your dangerous inaction.”
Schumer received the letter just as he was trying to negotiate with moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia. The topic of that conversation is a package that would be backed only by Democrats that would seek to address out-of-control inflation.
Other topics in that bill are addressing the rising prescription drug costs in the country, as well as the climate crisis and energy as a whole. The latter two topics are sticking points with Manchin, who has said publicly that he would be in favor of increasing the production of domestic energy to lower prices at the pump.
Manchin was very succinct in commenting to reporters when he left the Senate floor Tuesday, saying:
“If you’re going to have gas prices lower, produce energy — period.”
Many of the congressional staffers who signed onto the letter are urgently calling for Congress to increase investments in tax credits for clean energy as a way to address climate change. The letter was sent on Monday, and just one day later, it had spread throughout many offices in the Senate and House.
A staffer for a Democrat in the House, Saul Levin — who also serves as the coordinator of the Congressional Progressive Staff Association Climate Working Group — commented to CNN about the situation, saying:
“It’s been very quick; this is extremely popular with congressional staff. It’s taken no convincing. It’s like — ‘Where’s the link?'”
Levin said that the letter came from frustration many of the staffers say they’re experiencing over the fact that negotiations about climate change haven’t progressed much at all. Many of the legislation that these staffers have been crafting began way before liberals were able to take control of both chambers of Congress, and the White House, too.
Levin explained:
“This rose up out of staffers’ frustration. A lot of people have worked on this bill for years, since before Joe Biden was elected. [The letter] represents immense frustration of people who are really close to power and did our job. How can we go home and tell our families we did our job this whole time and there’s no climate policy?”
