U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (FL14) released the below statement following President Trump’s shortsighted State of the Union address:

“Tonight, we heard little vision from President Trump.  He did not mention higher wages for Americans and gave only passing reference to tackling exorbitant health care and drug costs.  There also was no mention of the most significant crisis of our lifetime – climate change.  The President refuses to acknowledge the urgency and escalating costs of the climate crisis on American families.  The cost of doing nothing is very high.  Instead, the Trump Administration sides with dirty fossil fuel corporations and installs oil industry lobbyists at the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of the Interior and other agencies that protect our health and economic wellbeing.  Trump boasted of a ‘revolution in American Energy’ that included nothing revolutionary – just the same old embrace of fossil fuels.

“I invited Tampa’s Leon W. Russell, the Chair of the NAACP National Board of Directors, to be my special guest and help highlight the importance of tackling the climate crisis.  Taking on the climate crisis and attacking economic injustice go hand in hand.  We must work with our neighbors and empower working class communities across America as we build a clean energy economy and a just transition from fossil fuels.  A clean energy future with quality jobs can lift and protect the health of disproportionately affected communities – yet President Trump chose to focus on his policies that hurt working families and give special interests and big corporations a free pass.”

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