Earth Protect Blog

The New York Times

WASHINGTON>> President Joe Biden on Friday announced the creation of a White House Office of Environmental Justice, one of several actions to address the unequal burden that people of color carry from environmental hazards.

“Every federal agency must take into account environmental and health impacts on communities and work to prevent those negative impacts,” Biden told a crowd of applauding activists gathered at a Rose Garden ceremony. “Environmental justice will be the mission of the entire government.”

Biden, who has indicated that he will run for reelection, used the opportunity to portray Republicans as extremists who support the fossil fuel industry at the expense of public health and the planet

The president is clashing with Republicans over the debt limit, which is expected to be breached as soon as July unless Congress acts to raise it. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has proposed a one-year debt ceiling increase tied to spending cuts and policy changes, including the repeal of tax incentives for electric vehicles and wind, solar and other clean energy that were central to the Inflation Reduction Act signed by Biden last year. In its place, McCarthy wants expanded fossil fuel production.

“I’ve flown over literally thousands of acres of land burned flat by wildfire because of environmental changes,” Biden said Friday. “I’ve seen too many communities turned to rubble by storms growing more frequent and ferocious. It’s an existential threat to our nation and literally to the world. I wish I could say that everyone saw it this way. But just this week, we heard Speaker McCarthy and the MAGA Republicans want to repeal climate provisions in the IRA.”

He accused them of being willing to default on American debt “rather than get rid of $30 billion in taxpayer subsidies to an oil industry that made $200 billion last year. Imagine making that choice.”

A spokesperson for McCarthy, Chad Gilmartin, said in a statement that “the White House is clearly having trouble defending President Biden’s reckless spending and irresponsible refusal to negotiate with Speaker McCarthy on the debt limit. It’s no surprise that the administration now has to fall back on crazy accusations against the only plan in Congress that would avoid default.”