Press Releases

Today, Congressman Gerry Connolly (VA-11) joined Congresswoman Cori Bush (MO-01) and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) in announcing the introduction of the Green New Deal for Cities Act of 2021, legislation that would federally fund city, state, local, tribal, and territorial governments to respond to the climate crisis, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs in the process. 

“From sea level rise in Hampton Roads to increased extreme weather events in Northern Virginia, Virginians see the effects of climate change right now," said Congressman Gerry Connolly. "And the pandemic has demonstrated yet another environmental injustice, with frontline communities exposed to air pollution found to be at great risk to this virus. With a new Administration, we can finally turn the page on President Trump’s climate denialism, and restore our standing in the global community as a leader in reducing climate change. That starts by ensuring America's cities, states, localities, and tribes are equipped to confront the climate crisis head-on."

“St. Louis and communities across the nation need the Green New Deal for Cities,” said Congresswoman Cori Bush. “In St. Louis City, Black children are 2.4 times more likely than white children to test positive for lead in their blood, and are 10 times more likely to visit the emergency room for asthma each year than white children. Black neighborhoods host the majority of the City’s air pollution sources. And there is a nuclear waste site — the West Lake Landfill, which is a catastrophe-in-progress. This legislation would make sure every city, town, county and tribe can have a federally funded Green New Deal. This is a $1 trillion investment to tackle the environmental injustices that are making us and our children sick, costing us our homes, and destroying our planet.”

“Local communities waited nearly a year to receive any pandemic relief from the federal government, and they still need more if we are to truly not just repair the damage caused by COVID, but come back stronger,” said Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “The GND4Cities would provide local governments the funding to create good-paying, union jobs repairing their infrastructure, improving water quality, reducing air pollution,  cleaning up parks, creating new green spaces and eliminating blight. Already, 10 local governments, including the state of New Mexico, have adopted local versions of the Green New Deal. The desire for these investments is there. We need to give our local communities the funding and support to act.”

So far, ten state and local governments including New Mexico, Austin, Texas, Los Angeles, California, New York, New York, and Boston, Massachusetts have adopted local versions of the Green New Deal.

The full text of the legislation can be found HERE.

A one-pager of the bill can be found HERE.

In the House of Representatives, Reps. Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Barbara Lee (CA-13), Carolyn B. Maloney (NY-12), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC-At Large), Frederica S. Wilson (FL-24), Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Jamaal Bowman (NY-16), Jamie Raskin (MD-08), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Jared Huffman (CA-02), Jesús G. "Chuy" García (IL-04), Jimmy Gomez (CA-34),  Juan Vargas (CA-51), Marie Newman (IL-03), Mondaire Jones (NY-17), Nanette Diaz Barragán (CA-44), Nikema Williams (GA-05), Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Rashida Tlaib (MI-13), Ritchie Torres (NY-15), and Steve Cohen (TN-09), have co-sponsored the legislation. 

The bill has support from more than 70 grassroots and environmental organizations, including People’s Action, Labor Network for Sustainability, the Center for Biological Diversity, Food and Water Watch, Friends of the Earth U.S., Greenpeace USA, Earthworks, 350.org, Socio-Spatial Climate Collaborative, the Sunrise Movement, Zero Hour, Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy, Progressive Democrats of America, Indigenous Environmental Network, GreenLatinos, For the People, Our Revolution, Poder in Action, Climate Justice Alliance, Earth Action, Inc., Climate Hawks Vote, Jewish Voice for Peace Action, GreenFaith, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action, RapidShift Network, CatholicNetwork US, Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, Mizzou College Democrats, GASP, Equal Justice Society, Flint Rising, Hispanic Access Foundation, The Climate Mobilization, Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, Justice Democrats, Indivisible, Global Center for Climate Justice, and Earthjustice.