Katherine Tai today was confirmed as the next U.S. Trade Representative. Tai is the first Asian American person and the first woman of color to hold the position.

A founding principle of the BlueGreen Alliance is support for a just trade policy that promotes growth and prosperity across all sectors of the global society—not just for multinational corporations and few elites—and embeds enforceable labor, environmental, and human rights standards in our trade agreements.

U.S. Rep. Debra Haaland (D-NM) today was confirmed as the next Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Secretary Haaland is the first Native American to hold a position in the U.S. Cabinet. In response, the BlueGreen Alliance released the following statement from Executive Director Jason Walsh.

President Joe Biden today signed into law the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill that includes funding for schools, state and local governments, vaccine distribution, additional enforcement funding for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and extended unemployment insurance, as well as other items.

Every four years, the American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) releases a Report Card grading the nation’s infrastructure from “A” to “F.” In 2017, the Infrastructure Report Card remained stagnant at a “D+”— the same grade the United States received in 2013. The current year’s report incrementally improved to a “C- ” scorecard— five categories increased and just one category decreased in their benchmarks. This improvement, however marginal, is the first time the metric has risen out of the D range in 20 years. Nonetheless, the report once again plainly demonstrates that America’s infrastructure is falling apart at the seams and we are not making long-term strides to fix the basic systems we rely on for clean water, energy, to communicate with each other, or to get from place to place. 

Michael Regan today was confirmed as the next administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In response, the BlueGreen Alliance released the following statement from Executive Director Jason Walsh.

U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA) today introduced the RECLAIM Act and a bill to reauthorize the Abandoned Mine Lands reclamation fee. The RECLAIM Act would commit existing funds to clean up abandoned coal mines and spur economic development and diversification in impacted communities. In response to the bill introduction, the BlueGreen Alliance released the following statement from Executive Director Jason Walsh:

The United States House of Representatives today passed the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. The PRO Act is designed to ensure workers can band together to negotiate better wages and safer working conditions by ending prohibitions on collective and class action litigation; prohibiting employers from permanently replacing striking employees; and amending how employees are defined to ensure that no one is misclassified as an independent contractor. In addition, it would strengthen remedies and enforcement for employees who are exercising their rights; create a mediation and arbitration process for new unions; protect against captive audience meetings; and streamline National Labor Relations Board procedures.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) today announced a final environmental review of the Vineyard Wind offshore wind project. The project, an 800-megawatt offshore wind farm, will be built off the cost of southern Massachusetts.

The BlueGreen Alliance today announced The International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) has joined its national partnership of labor unions and environmental organizations. The announcement comes at a vital time as the Biden administration and Congress are focusing on how investments in infrastructure will fuel America’s economic recovery, fight economic and racial injustice, and reduce the emissions driving climate change.

Strong domestic manufacturing must be an essential part of our climate solutions. And programs and policies that help rebuild and retool our factories to make the technologies of the future will be essential to ensuring a climate and economic recovery agenda that goes hand in hand with rebuilding good jobs and hard-hit communities. The ATVM…

U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee Chair Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), and Energy Subcommittee Chair Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) today released the Climate Leadership and Environmental Action for our Nation’s (CLEAN) Future Act of 2021. The bill includes a target of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions across our economy by 2050 and language requiring strong labor standards in the clean economy, assistance for communities impacted by the changing energy mix and deindustrialization, and funding for clean technology manufacturing. In response to the introduction of the bill, the BlueGreen Alliance released the following statement from Executive Director Jason Walsh.