Chair Castor Applauds Passage Of America COMPETES Act

WASHINGTON - Chair Kathy Castor of the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis released the following statement on Friday after the House of Representatives passed the America COMPETES Act:

“The America COMPETES Act will strengthen supply chains for U.S. solar manufacturing, invest in critical equipment for our electric grid, and help train the next generation of clean energy workers,” said Chair Castor. “It will ensure that innovators in the United States manufacture the technologies of the future, instead of ceding the economic opportunities to China, Europe, and others. And it will safeguard the local economies of coastal communities like my own, including by taking steps to combat illegal fishing and protect our coral reefs. 

“Additionally, the America COMPETES Act was strengthened by my amendment to turbocharge transformative pollution-reducing technologies for the industrial sector and quickly bring them to market, ensuring we support breakthroughs for this especially hard-to-decarbonize sector of our economy through grants and loans.

“This is how we win the 21st century: by empowering our domestic industries to lead the world in manufacturing electric vehicles, clean energy components, and other climate solutions. We have the infrastructure. We have the know-how. And we have the workforce. Now we need the right policies in place to make it happen.”

The clean energy and climate investments in the America COMPETES Act advance several recommendations made in the Select Committee's Climate Crisis Action Plan, including:

• Strengthening solar manufacturing supply chains and enhancing grid resilience, including $3 billion to fund the establishment of a domestic solar manufacturing supply chain and $375 million to establish a Strategic Transformer Reserve and invest in critical equipment for the electric grid.
• Strengthening environmental standards to protect our ocean and wildlife, including $20 million annually to combat illegal fishing and up to $58.5 million annually to protect and recover coral reefs. 
• Advancing U.S. innovation and competitiveness domestically and globally, including through technical and financial assistance for equitable economic development, workforce development, and alliances in support of workers and human rights.
• Bolstering climate diplomacy to serve U.S. national security and economic interests through a new Climate Security Strategy, Climate Change Officers in missions and a Climate Resilience Coordinator in the State Department, launching a new interagency Climate Impacts Task Force, and ensuring Chiefs of Mission address climate change in a whole-of-government response.
• Deepening partnerships across key strategic regions, including the Arctic, Oceana, Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean to advance U.S. interests in clean and renewable energy and helping vulnerable states adapt and prepare for climate impacts.

A full fact sheet on these investments is available here.

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Background:

• In June of 2020, the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis Democrats released the majority staff report Solving the Climate Crisis: The Congressional Action Plan for a Clean Energy Economy and a Healthy, Resilient, and Just America. This report provides a roadmap for Congress—a Climate Crisis Action Plan—to build a prosperous, clean energy economy that values workers, advances environmental justice, and is prepared to meet the challenges of the climate crisis.
• House Democrats have already passed more than 375 of the recommendations in the Climate Crisis Action Plan, and have successfully worked to turn over 200 of them into law.