Walz among governors pushing Congress on climate package

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz joined 21 other leaders last week in calling on Congress to "take immediate action" on climate and clean energy.

"Over just the past five years, extreme weather has cost Americans an additional $600 billion in physical and economic damages, and we know the longer we wait to curb emissions, the more expensive, and limited, the solutions get," said a letter from the governors to congressional leaders.

The letter was part of the governors' work through the U.S. Climate Alliance. But it comes amid an ever-present logjam on Capitol Hill. Combating climate change was a major focus of President Joe Biden's Build Back Better package that passed the House last year, only to stall in the Senate due to opposition from a Democratic swing vote.

That failure represented a major setback to Biden's legislative agenda, and the Democratic party has been unable to recover and publicly push forward a package with similar climate spending as the midterm elections approach.

"We are grateful that Congress passed the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act late last year with important resources to support infrastructure investments in our communities," last week's letter said. "However, significantly more is needed to secure our net-zero emission future. We need a bold climate and clean energy package from Congress."