Green New Deal for Public Schools

Floor Speech

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Ms. STANSBURY. Madam Speaker, I rise today with my colleagues to continue calling attention to the survival of our planet and our future generations, the well-being of our communities, and the critical importance of passing legislation across the board that reflects our values, which are embodied in the Green New Deal.

The science is clear. We must urgently address climate change now. We must address our greenhouse gas footprint and the causes of climate change now. We must mitigate the impacts of climate change now. And we must support and center and empower and invest in our communities now.

That is what the Green New Deal is all about, building a world that is more just, more equitable, and more climate-resilient for future generations, for our children, for our parents, and for everyone across our communities.

To do so, we have to invest in our communities, critical infrastructure, and all the things that will make it possible for our communities to thrive. The time is now to be decisive, to be brave in our policymaking, to be bold in our investments, and to lean into the science.

We must do so now in the budget reconciliation and infrastructure packages that this body is working to pass right now.

This is especially critical for my home State of New Mexico, where we are already experiencing the impacts of extreme drought, catastrophic fires, heat waves, and an uncertain future, and where our communities are already struggling daily to make a living. Our families are struggling to put food on the table and struggling to support people across our community.

It is absolutely critical that we support and center our communities in this conversation and that we invest in the resilient infrastructure that will make it possible for us to live resiliently: our electric grid, broadband infrastructure, drinking water, irrigation infrastructure, and green infrastructure, and to lean into our clean energy future.

We must also invest in the infrastructure of our communities, our care economy, because that is the infrastructure of our economy and the well-being of our people, our schools, and our families.

We must do all of this through the lens of social, racial, and economic justice, investing in good paying jobs, lifting up the voices of and listening to the people in our communities and ensuring that their livelihoods and well- being are at the center of these conversations.

That is why we need bold action now in the budget, in reconciliation, and in the infrastructure package to ensure that we are investing in things that are not only shovel-ready but shovel worthy and worthy of our communities and their future.

The time for action is now. We need climate action now, and I am proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with my colleagues here in the House and in the Senate to ensure that we are making good on our commitment to our future.

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