[STATEMENT] President Biden’s historic presidency

Act now: Climate action can’t wait any longer 🔥🌡️ Problems viewing this email? [View it in your browser]( [Center for American Progress]( InProgress from the Center for American Progress To make sure you never miss an email from us, please add progress@americanprogress.org to your contacts or safe senders list. Thanks for staying connected with us! STATEMENT: CAP’s Patrick Gaspard on President Biden’s Historic Presidency and the Future of America On Sunday, July 21, President Joe Biden announced that he’s withdrawing from the 2024 presidential race. Following the announcement, [Patrick Gaspard]( president and CEO of the Center for American Progress, issued the following statement: President Biden will go down in history as one of our great presidents. He inherited a country consumed by multiple crises, mired in the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic and reeling from the horrors of January 6th. President Biden has lived up to his pledge to build back better. He has delivered a stronger and more inclusive economy; landmark legislation to fight climate change and rebuild our crumbling infrastructure. He has also confronted the existential threats to democracy both at home and abroad with conviction. America is more secure, prosperous, and powerful because Joe Biden has led it for four years. [READ THE FULL STATEMENT]( New report: Climate deniers of the 118th Congress [A 7-foot tall fence surrounds the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., January 2021. ]( Photo credit: Getty/Chip Somodevilla A [new analysis]( from the Center for American Progress has identified 123 sitting members of Congress as climate deniers—meaning that they deny the existence of human-caused climate change. These 100 representatives and 23 senators wield significant influence on public perceptions of climate change as well as on the speed and direction of climate policy in the United States. Members of Congress also receive publicly disclosed contributions, which may provide a window into the possible influence of the fossil fuel industry. Key findings: - Among the 90 newly elected or appointed members of the 118th Congress, 18 are climate deniers. - The climate deniers in the current Congress have received $52,071,133 in lifetime campaign contributions from the fossil fuel industry. [Green background with a grid of the climate deniers' headshots photos. Text on the green background, "Climate Deniers. There are currently 123 climate deniers in the 118th Congress who have received $52M in career contributions from the fossil fuel industry." ]( [Spread the Word]( While the number of outright climate deniers in Congress continues a downward trend, some members of Congress have shifted from outright climate denial to other rhetorical tactics, including: - Redirecting responsibility for addressing the climate crisis - Denying the power of policy to mitigate climate change via counseling doomism - Dismissing the urgency of climate action and portraying climate activism as alarmism - Spreading misinformation These publicly elected officials and the fossil fuel industry must be held accountable for their statements on climate change and deceptive obstructionist tactics such as greenwashing and spreading misinformation. We cannot afford to delay climate action any longer. [Learn More]( Climate action must not be delayed The science is clear: Americans cannot afford to ignore the realities of global climate change. The impacts of this crisis are being felt across every community on the planet—we’re already feeling it this summer with nationwide heatwaves. Yet despite the need for urgent action, the United States faces a serious barrier to progress: climate denial. It’s time to take action. Join us today and call for the end of climate denial: [Take Action]( Pro tip: Don't be fooled by Sen. Ted Cruz's empty promise to workers [A Miami Beach, Florida, restaurant worker uses a credit card scanner.]( Photo credit: Getty/Universal Image Group/Jeffrey Greenberg Sen. Cruz (R-TX) and Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) [recently introduced legislation]( dubbed the No Tax on Tips Act, which would exempt tips workers receive from income taxes. While this might be interesting on the surface, our analysis shows it’s just more of the same empty promises from the 2017 tax law. The enthusiasm among backers of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 for exempting tips from income taxes reveals their desire to be associated with a tax policy that is more pro-worker—given how much more favorable that law was to the wealthy than low- and middle-income working families. Their new bill does not fix that problem. Meanwhile, the No Tax on Tips Act would leave out most low- and moderate-wage workers and provide no or paltry tax cuts to many tipped workers. At the same time, Sen. Cruz’s bill would open the door to tax abuse that could provide a windfall to hedge fund managers, lawyers, and other high-income professionals. While tipped workers deserve a [fair wage]( Sen. Cruz’s bill attempts to cover for the regressivity of the 2017 tax law while opening the door to even larger tax cuts for the wealthy. [Keep Reading]( Don’t miss this U.S. Supreme Court event Join us this [Thursday, July 25]( for a virtual event featuring distinguished panelists: - Akhil Amar, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale Law School - Tess Bridgeman, Co-Editor-in-Chief at Just Security - Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law at Berkeley School of Law [Devon Ombres]( CAP’s senior director of Courts and Legal Policy, will moderate a discussion on the threats the current Supreme Court and a future president could pose to the very foundation of American democracy, how the Trump v. United States case lays the groundwork for the far right’s [Project 2025 agenda]( and the scope of reform necessary to fend off this growing authoritarian movement. 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