FEDERAL VICTORIES

It was an extremely busy year for BGA on Capitol Hill and the legislative team for BGA worked hand-in-hand with the organization’s field team on tactics to ensure lawmakers heard the voice of workers and environmentalists as they deliberated recovery efforts. These tactics included numerous letters to Congressional leaders and the administration.

In February, U.S. Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) joined leaders from the BlueGreen Alliance to call for manufacturing, infrastructure, and good union jobs to be the centerpiece for economic recovery legislation.

In March, BGA Executive Director Jason Walsh testified in front of the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change to share the importance of building a fair, thriving, and equitable economy through the Climate Leadership and Environmental Action for our Nation’s (CLEAN) Future Act.

BGA partnered with the United Steelworkers (USW), United Auto Workers (UAW), and the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council to produce a backgrounder, EVs are Coming. Will They be Made in the USA? in April, which reviews the potential for job gains or losses related to the coming electrification of vehicles, and the actions needed to ensure we safeguard and build domestic manufacturing and jobs as the U.S. and global vehicle fleet shifts to electric. This preview set the stage for a full report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) that was released later in September by BGA and EPI.

In May, USW, the Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA), and the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) joined us for a virtual Capitol Hill briefing highlighting our recently released National Energy Transition Policy Framework.

BGA Executive Director Jason Walsh testified in front of the U.S. House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee about reducing pollution and creating jobs through offshore wind as well as the U.S. Senate Finance Committee on the tax code’s role in creating clean economy jobs. In addition, BGA Director of Advanced Manufacturing and Transportation, Zoe Lipman, testified to the Senate Banking Committee on capitalizing on opportunities in the clean energy economy.

In July, BGA submitted comments calling on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to take action to protect industrial workers, fence line communities, first responders, and our nation’s infrastructure by strengthening the Chemical Disaster Rule with a people first approach. Later that month, BGA Director of Manufacturing and Advanced Transportation Zoe Lipman testified at a hearing titled, “Financing Climate Solutions and Job Creation.”

A major report from BGA in August, entitled Making Clean Deliver: Improving Clean Energy Job Quality and Growing the Clean Energy Manufacturing Supply Chain in the United States, highlighted research that showed enacting policies to increase wages and grow domestic content in the clean energy sector would not dramatically impact costs or deployment.

“EVs Are Coming: Strengthening Auto Manufacturing and Building Good Jobs in the Shift to Electric Vehicles” was a discussion in September featuring U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and U.S. Reps. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) and Dan Kildee (D-MI) on the policies and commitments needed to ensure that the economic and employment benefits that will accompany the transition to EVs accrue to workers here.

In November, the work of BGA the past year paid off with the passage of the Build Back Better Act in the House. Executive Director Jason Walsh lauded the vote saying, “This bill will create millions of good-paying union jobs across the country while reducing the emissions driving climate change, positioning the U.S. as a leader in the clean economy, and making our communities and infrastructure safer and more resilient in the face of the climate impacts we are already seeing.”

In December, BGA and more than 60 unions, environmental organizations, and advocacy groups urged Senate Democrats to support the inclusion of a bonus tax credit for consumer EVs manufactured in factories where workers are represented by a union, a provision included in the Build Back Better Act.

Also in December, BGA released a fact sheet highlighting the manufacturing and industrial investments the organization fought to get included in the House version of the Build Back Better Act. Later in the month, BGA applauded the Biden administration for its efforts on lead abatement.