Press Releases

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) today joined Senator Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), and other Congressional Progressive Caucus members in marking the Green New Deal’s fourth anniversary. In a press conference on Capitol Hill, the Members unveiled new Green New Deal legislation, highlighted climate progress in the Inflation Reduction Act, and discussed the work ahead. The Green New Deal proposes to tackle the climate crisis with a 10-year mobilization that puts millions of Americans to work in good-paying, union jobs. Similar to FDR’s New Deal, these jobs would be focused on strengthening the nation’s public infrastructure as well as tackling pollution and climate damage. 

“Today my colleagues and I celebrated Earth Day by renewing our efforts to fight climate change with the Green New Deal. In the four years since we introduced this legislation, we have made progress on climate with historic legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act—but today, we recognized that there is still much more to do,” said Pingree. “From agriculture and infrastructure to transportation and housing, we must invest in climate resilience across the board if we want to meet our climate goals and ensure a habitable future for our kids and grandkids. I’m proud to part of this movement and am eager to build on the progress to realize the Green New Deal’s complete vision.”

Click here to watch the full press conference. Pingree’s remarks begin around the 38-minute mark.

“In the four years since we first introduced the Green New Deal, the tides of our movement have risen and lifted climate action to the top of the national agenda. Thanks to the persistence of the Green New Deal movement, we succeeded in securing historic progress through the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and now we have an obligation to honor the origins of that success – which sprung from the young people and workers who never once stopped organizing for their future – by putting those dollars to work to create dignified jobs, rectify generations of systemic injustice, and reverse climate damage,” said Senator Markey. “We have demonstrated that our movement is a potent political force, and in the run-up to the 2024 elections, we will direct this power to demanding solutions to the intersectional crises Congress has yet to address: in health care, child care, schools, housing, transit, labor, and economic and racial justice.”

“When we first introduced the Green New Deal, we were told that our vision for the future was too aspirational. Four years later, we see core tenets of the Green New Deal reflected in the Inflation Reduction Act — the largest ever federal investment in fighting climate change, with a focus on creating good, green jobs. But there is still much, much more to do to make environmental justice the center of U.S. climate policy. Today’s reintroduction marks the beginning of that process — of strengthening and broadening our coalition, and of laying the policy groundwork for the next fight,” said Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez.

The Green New Deal Resolution is endorsed by Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, Care in Action, Center for Popular Democracy, Citizen Action of Wisconsin, Climate Action, Corazon Latino, Cuyama Lamb LLC, Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action, FracTracker Alliance, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, Green New Deal Network, Greenpeace USA, Justice Democrats, League of Conservation Voters, MADRE, Marked By Covid, Mid-Ohio Valley, Milwaukee Riverkeeper, National Domestic Workers Alliance, NY Renews Coalition, People's Action, Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, Right to the City Alliance, Rachel Carson Council, Sierra Club, Sunrise Movement, Sunflower Alliance, The Black Hive @ M4BL, United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE), United We Dream, US High Speed Rail Association, WildEarth Guardians, WV New Jobs Coalition, Zero Hour, 350 Hawaii, and 350.org.

Pingree is an original cosponsor of the Green New Deal. She is ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, which she chaired in the 117th Congress. Her Agriculture Resilience Act, which she reintroduced in March, aims to give farmers the tools they need to reach net-zero agricultural emissions by 2040. 

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