Vice President Biden claimed that the mega-pending bills backed by the Biden administration are critical to combating climate change, something President Kamala Harris himself has warned is the greatest threat to America's national security in the next years.
The late Jeff Harris spoke at Lake Mead in Nevada, which is currently facing record water levels. The Federal Department of Water declared the first drought in the Colorado River in August, which means Arizona, Nevada and Mexico will receive less water than normal next year amid a gripping Western drought.
And Harris warned that this is where we are headed. Look at where the water has receded over just the last 20 years, she said, refering to the bathtub ring of minerals that marks where the reservoir s water line before stood. That space is larger than the height of the Statue of Liberty. In September, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation released projections for the river with an even worse outlook.
Hillary Clinton continued to double down on her support for the administration's multitrillion-dollar infrastructure spending package, saying that funding is imperative to building capacity for climate change.
The bid for a bipartisan infrastructure deal combined with the BUILD-Back Better agenda is about what we need to do to invest in things like water recycling and reuse, what we can do in terms of water desalination, what we can do in terms of implementation of drought contingency plans, she said.
Democrats, however, are still locked in debate within their own party on the price tag for the $3.5 trillion spending package.
Concerning the $1.5 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, Harris pointed towards the good union jobs that she could create. The bill passed the Senate and is pending in the House of Representatives for approval.
Harris, in a pitch for the president's spending packages, said that their passage would serve future generations in a way that will not only be about life, but about beautiful places like Lake Mead. How do you talk about the proposed civil climate center for Biden administration, which officials have argued can create hundreds of thousands of jobs building trails, restoring streams and helping to stop wildfires?
Harris' visit comes after the Biden administration announced an accelerated effort to protect American from the poloyfluoroalkyl substances PFAS which can cause severe health problems and remain in the environment once released.
The efforts from the administration are set to help prevent those substances from being released into the air, drinking systems and food supply.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan on Monday launched the Agency's PFAS Roadmap a concrete strategy that outlines the agency’s PFAS Roadmap, which outlines new actions over the next three years to control PFAS at its sources, hold polluters accountable, ensure science-based decision making and address impacts on disadvantages communities.
The White House, in outlining the strategy, also said the infrastructure deal and the "Build Back Better" agenda both include dedicated funding to address PFAS contamination in drinking water as well as investments for the EPA to conduct a monitoring campaign across the country for 29 PFAS compounds in drinking water through the unregulated contamination monitoring rule program.
Meanwhile, the White House announced last week that the Biden will attend the World Leader Summit in Glasgow on Nov. 1 and 2 at the beginning of the 26th Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Biden is expected to attend with a number of Cabinet members and senior administration officials including Regan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Transportation Secretary Janet Yellen, Climate adviser Gina McCarthy and Climate Envoy John Kerry ; both are expected to include Biden, Secretary of State, Transport Secretary Anne Philips,
Last year Biden announced Kerry would serve as the first UN climate envoy for politics and would sit on the National Security Council marking it with the NSC an official dedicated to climate change.
Biden and members of his administration declared climate change as national security threat. In the summer of 2014, Biden warned that it would be the greatest threat to national security in America in the coming years.