Climate Mayors and Urban Sustainability Directors Network Joint Letter to House and Senate Leadership Urging End of Year Passage of FY23 Appropriations

Dear Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Schumer, Minority Leader McCarthy, and Minority Leader McConnell:

First, we want to thank you for your commitment to continue negotiations to potentially move forward with the Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23) appropriations legislative packages. We recognize the limited time Congress has to negotiate the end of year spending packages. However, as members of Climate Mayors, a bipartisan network of over 500 mayors committed to climate action, and the Urban Sustainability Directors Network, a coalition of local government sustainability practitioners representing more than 250 communities, we urge Congressional leaders to move forward with final passage of the FY23 appropriations bills to support our local economies, continue to create good jobs, and avoid further uncertainty that weakens our communities.

In addition to our request for Congressional action of passage of the FY23 appropriations bills, we ask you to consider the following top line funding levels for critical energy, infrastructure, and health programs that are vital for continued local climate action:

• $4 billion for the Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office, along with $562 million for the Department of Energy’s Office of State and Community Energy Programs (SCEP).

• $2 billion for Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Building Resilience Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program.

• $75 million to address the health impacts of climate change for the Health and Human Services’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Read the full letter and recommendations therein HERE.

Signed,

Kate Wright, Executive Director, Climate Mayors

Shauna Sylvester, Executive Director Urban Sustainability Directors Network