It’s wild to me that even the Biden administration appears so cavalier on climate. $1.2T on infrastructure and a follow up $3.5T budget bill and in both the environmental provisions are lame. Still no carbon pricing or anything that might make Exxon execs too uncomfortable (yes, I know Exxon supports carbon pricing in public because they don’t think anyone will actually do it).
I imagine it would be a lot easier if it weren’t bundled with trillions of dollars for other programs. It kind of feels like climate should be the number one priority and while Republicans are close to worthless it feels like Democratic politicians aren’t much more interested in offending their corporate masters. But in general I agree, it’s hard to get these things passed when so many congresspeople are in the pockets of moneyed interests.
Traditionally presidents set the agenda and work to get support, but you’re right that it’s a team sport and Biden needs congressional support. It’s disappointing that there isn’t enough support even among Democrats (Biden is trying to push through a $3.5T budget plan without any Republican support so clearly he thinks he can get things done on just a Democratic basis, but apparently he doesn’t think major climate initiatives will be popular with the Democratic crowd?).
While it's great and all for america to invest in the environment at the end of the day america is still only a small part of the world. The issues of climate are global in nature and unlikely to be solved in my lifetime.
The US needs to be leading on this issue. They're the largest economy and have benefited the most out of everyone (on a per-capita basis) from the carbon pollution that they're causing, leaving the poorer and hotter countries in the global south to bear the brunt of the downside a century later.
Agreed. It’s going to be pretty lame when Biden tries to convince the world to do better on climate at the upcoming summit when Biden can’t get significant policy implemented at home. Anyway, every country needs to do its part and ours, like many others, is failing.
