Biden Puts His ‘Most Ambitious Climate Agenda’ Up Against McCarthy's ‘Dangerous Proposals’
Biden and his team defend spending in the face of MAGA debt threats
President Biden this week signed a new executive order to further his environmental justice and climate change agenda, and his chief spokesperson was quick to contrast his leadership with the “dangerous proposals” Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy unveiled.
Biden's executive order makes “environmental justice part of the DNA of every federal agency,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday during her regular press briefing.
“Environmental justice will be the mission of the entire government, woven directly into how we work with state, local, tribal and territorial governments,” Biden said in his White House signing ceremony.
Meanwhile, House Republicans, led by McCarthy, unveiled legislation to raise the federal debt ceiling — but only tied to massive cuts in federal spending.
Congress, for decades, has raised the federal debt limit as a matter of course dozens of times without holding the move hostage to spending cuts. (In fact, Congress did so several times under the presidency of Donald Trump, even as Trump and Republicans were ballooning the debt and deficit with tax cuts tilted towards the very rich.)
Without an increase in the federal debt ceiling, the government's ability to pay its existing obligations would be jeopardized, likely causing an extreme economic meltdown in the United States and globally.
Jean-Pierre was clear about the aim of the new Biden executive order.
“His order will mean cleaner air and water, reduced risk of asthma and cancer, and better access to safe and affordable housing, and clean transportation for communities across the country,” she said.
And she set the Biden order in stark relief against the draconian cuts McCarthy and other MAGA Republicans are seeking — cuts that aren't even entirely popular among McCarthy's own rank-and-file.
“The president’s bold climate and environmental justice agenda could not stand in starker contrast to the dangerous proposals MAGA House Republicans are putting forward,” Jean-Pierre said. “… While President Biden is fighting to clean up toxic pollution and lower costs through clean energy tax credit, Speaker McCarthy unveiled a ransom note holding our economy hostage.
“It’s a 320-page plan to kill jobs, fill our cities with smog, and give asthma to our children. The proposal would repeal the Inflation Reduction Act’s green energy tax credits, sending thousands of jobs back to China,” she said. “It would make it easier for oil companies to use toxic chemicals that cause severe burns, damage people’s eyes, and quite literally melt bones.”
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