ICYMI: TRANSCRIPT: Majority Leader Schumer Delivers Remarks At A Press Conference Celebrating The Creation Of The American Climate Corps

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) yesterday spoke at a press conference celebrating the creation of the American Climate Corps; executive action taken by President Biden will create good-paying jobs tacking the climate crisis. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Thank you very much it’s great to be here with Senator Markey, Congresswomen Ocasio-Cortez, Senator Sanders, Representatives Judy Chu, of course Cori [Bush], and the great Sunrise Movement as we celebrate President Biden taking executive action to create the American Climate Corps.

As you know, last August, we passed the Inflation Reduction Act, the largest climate investment in history, ever by a long shot.

Now – our country and our economy is being transformed by this historic investment. Already, this down payment has created thousands of good-paying jobs, we made sure of that, not just junky jobs, we wanted the jobs to go to people, many people of color, and poor people, and people who got out of prison, and people who never had these jobs before.

We need to make sure these funds are going to help those most affected by changing climate and rising pollution. We need to make sure we are specifically reaching disadvantaged and minority communities that have been traditionally ignored and overlooked as new climate-related disasters occur almost on a weekly basis.

Well, what’s the answer to that? The American Climate Corps will do just that!

The American Climate Corps is going to focus on communities traditionally left behind and will help prepare workers for the new union jobs that are being created across the country using existing IRA funding.

The original Civilian Conservation Corps – created by FDR— had the mission to confront a national crisis through a shared sense of purpose. We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to meet the moment again, it doesn’t come around very often but it is now.

And, this time it’s to rescue our planet from the climate crisis – and President Biden is answering the call. The IRA funds have the ability to completely revolutionize communities across our country, that’s how we wrote it. And we’ll work to make sure that the communities most in need will receive this funding.

I want to say a special thank you to the youth activists who pushed so hard for this program, I know I work closely with them in New York, the Sunrise Movement, who led the organizing effort from the beginning. We elected officials want to give all of you a round of applause.

Democrats are fighting tooth and nail to make sure the next generation has a country with prosperity, opportunity, and stability. These green jobs will build a stronger foundation for the next generation and ones after that.

I was just in Allegany County, which, along with the Bronx, is the poorest county in New York. They had a factory there, and the factory used to make equipment for coal mining, and they converted that factory so that it is now making equipment for windmills, and it’s employing 200 more poor people who have never, never had a job before.

It was a beautiful moment, to go to this factory. And that’s happening over and over and over again. Green jobs are going to build a stronger foundation for the next generation.

The jobs created by the American Climate Corps is going to offer a pathway, so that people can get into the middle class and stay there. It’ll be an affirmation of the power of the union movement. Industry and labor agree our progress on climate goals may be slowed without robust training programs, without the ladders, we believe in ladders, so that people could climb up and then establish themselves with a good life. At a time when unionized workers across the country are standing up and demanding respect, the new American Climate Corps will further strengthen the labor movement. It’ll do more, it’ll then fulfill the critical need for job training, it’ll deal with our climate crisis.

This year alone, the hottest summer on record, blistering heatwaves; deadly wildfires, disastrous smog, historic floors, hurricanes, and droughts. In our divided and polarized time, the American Climate Corps will bring young people of every political orientation, creed, and background together, working shoulder-to-shoulder to combat one of our most pressing global challenges.

So I thank President Biden, I thank Senator Markey, I thank Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez for leading the fight to reinvigorate our shared sense of purpose in the fight against climate change. I am proud to be here, thank you.

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