American Corps Program Could Combat Climate Crisis: Local Pols Pen Letter To Appropriators

Ocasio-Cortez, Neguse Lead Letter to Top Appropriators to Combat the Escalating Climate Crisis Through the American Climate Corps Program

Editor’s note: Staten Islander News recently reported on new research showing that the most effective way to combat climate change may be by allowing old growth forests to grow and not be cut down.  Paying landowners for reforestation efforts while they benefit from timber sales on their land has been put forth as an effective mitigating factor for climate change. Pope Francis has also weighed in on the climate crisis, and on the importance of people of goodwill doing their part.  

Washington, D.C. – Following the announcement of the American Climate Corps registration hub, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), Representative Joe Neguse (CO-02), and 60 of their Democratic colleagues led a letter to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health & Human Services, and Education in support of AmeriCorps’ Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) proposal for $15 million in discretionary funding to the AmeriCorps Salaries and Expenses Account, designated to fund the American Climate Corps hub, and $23 million to the AmeriCorps Operations account for the American Climate Corps program.

In September 2023, Representative Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Markey led a letter to President Biden requesting the creation of an American Climate Corps and, on April 15, 2024, Representative Ocasio-Cortez joined President Joe Biden to announce the opening of the first American Climate Corps job opportunities across the country. The program aims to train the next generation of leaders to tackle the climate crisis by offering opportunities to build clean energy and climate-resilient infrastructure.

“With deadly heat, dangerous floods, rising seas, and devastating wildfires ravaging our country, the climate crisis demands a whole-of-government response at an unprecedented scale. The American Climate Corps provides a crucial solution for developing the workforce of the future,” wrote the members.

“By leveraging the historic climate funding secured last Congress, using existing authorities, and coordinating across AmeriCorps and other relevant federal agencies, the American Climate Corps promises to unite its members in an effort to fight climate change, build community resilience, support environmental justice, and develop career pathways to good-paying union jobs focused on climate resilience and a clean economy,” they continued.

The letter was also signed by: Adams, Alma; Amo, Gabe; Balint, Becca; Barragán, Nanette; Blumenauer, Earl; Blunt Rochester, Lisa; Bowman, Jamaal; Casar, Greg; Chu, Judy; Clarke, Yvette; Cleaver, Emanuel; Connolly, Gerald; Crockett, Jasmine; Davis, Danny; DeSaulnier, Mark; Doggett, Lloyd; Escobar, Veronica; Evans, Dwight; Frost, Maxwell; García, Jesús; Garcia, Robert; Gomez, Jimmy; Green, Al; Grijalva, Raúl; Horsford, Steven; Houlahan, Chrissy; Huffman, Jared; Ivey, Glenn; Jayapal, Pramila; Johnson, Henry; Khanna, Ro; Kim, Andy; Krishnamoorthi, Raja; Lee, Summer; Levin, Mike; Lieu, Ted; Lynch, Stephen; Magaziner, Seth; McGarvey, Morgan; McGovern, James; Moulton, Seth; Mullin, Kevin; Nadler, Jerrold; Neguse, Joe; Norton, Eleanor; Ocasio-Cortez, Alexandria; Omar, Ilhan; Pascrell, Bill; Plaskett, Stacey; Porter, Katie; Pressley, Ayanna; Ramirez, Delia; Raskin, Jamie; Sánchez, Linda; Sarbanes, John; Scanlon, Mary; Schakowsky, Janice; Stansbury, Melanie; Takano, Mark; Tlaib, Rashida; Velázquez, Nydia; Wilson, Frederica

Banner Image: Mississippi River flooding. Image Credit – Kelly Sikkema

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

In January of 2019, Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez was sworn-in as the youngest woman and youngest Latina ever to serve in Congress. Her first piece of legislation was the Green New Deal resolution, which envisions a 10-year national mobilization, akin to FDR’s New Deal, that would put millions to work in good-paying, union jobs repairing the nation’s infrastructure, reducing air and water pollution, and fighting the intertwined economic, social, racial and climate crises crippling the country.