President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better agenda is creating fireworks in Washington, but what would it mean for Nevada?
Congress is debating legislation that Biden and Democrats say will fight climate change and assist working families.
Nevada State Sen. Pat Spearman, who spent a career in the military, said more attention needs to be paid to the national security benefits from the environmental portions of the proposal.
“When you start looking at climate change, it has a devastating effect on our military,” she said, mentioning the political instability that higher temperatures and less water are bringing to Sub-Saharan Africa.
Spearman said that in conversations with military officers, she has been told that climate change has “had a severe impact on the way that not only they do business, but on the way that they see the emerging challenges with respect to national security.”
She also said veterans deserve first-class roads and bridges that will mean a stronger economy when they return to civilian life back home.
“We've got to make sure that we address that,” she said.
Clark County Commissioner Justin Jones said Build Back Better dovetails with state and county efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“This state and the county have already made historic commitments to transition to clean energy and fight the climate crisis,” he said, “and the Build Back Better Act is really our best opportunity at the national level to advance those changes in clean energy and fight the climate crisis.”
He also said Biden’s agenda will boost the economy because it “creates jobs through investments in building and buying clean energy, electric trucks, buses, and cars, building out our charging infrastructure.”
Jones said federal resources will ensure the success of efforts like NV Energy’s Greenlink Nevada transmission line project, which he said will create thousands of jobs.
“We need to make those investments so that not only are we using clean energy,” he said, “but we're making those investments in the jobs that come along with clean energy.”
Pat Spearman, state senator, District 1; Justin Jones, Clark County commissioner, District F
