Dec 15, 2023 update – Just a quick note to those of you who signed our petition for a National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that was not directly tied to petro-fascism – we won! Sort of. I’ll explain:
Last night the House finally passed an annual defense authorization bill – which the President is expected to sign soon. Left out of the final bill were all the fascist provisions we warned you about, and which Kevin McCarthy and his fellow fossil-fueled-fascists had advocated before.
Unfortunately, removing the worst and most hateful parts is about the nicest thing we can say about this, or any NDAA. The bill still funds war and weapons, not peace and clean energy. And it’s still frustrating that a bipartisan majority in Congress can agree on billions for war, even as they cannot agree that climate change is real, or that fossil fuels are the cause of it.
As our Ukrainian friends at Razom We Stand warned us this week as well, fossil fuels often lead nations into authoritarian regimes. Check our their new analysis of the links between heavy reliance on oil, fossil gas, and coal and the rise of petrodictatorships, as well as their impact on human rights.
For now – congratulations to all of you who fought the worst in this year’s NDAA. And stay tuned for more ways to fight war and global warming with peace and an arsenal of energy democracy and clean energy freedom.
August message – The National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, is an annual must-pass piece of spending legislation. But this year, extreme Republicans in control of the U.S. House of Representatives have gotten their dirty hands on it, and turned it into a fossil fueled fascist wish list.
Fortunately, the Senate took a different path. But they’re still proposing to spend more on war and fossil fuels, which will make the climate crisis worse and only add fuel the armed conflicts like the one in Ukraine. As you know and we have said many times – the paths to peace and climate security go hand in hand. You cannot fight the climate crisis with war and weapons. And you cannot win the war in Ukraine (or anywhere else) without taking on the fossil fuel industry.
That’s why it’s essential that President Biden show courage and global leadership NOW. Sign here to ask him to veto the fossil fascist NDAA.
The NDAA passed by the house doesn’t just fund war, weapons, and climate chaos. Fossil fueled fascists have loaded it up with extreme amendments including ones that would:
- Deny women in uniform access to abortion.
- Eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion offices across the military.
- Bar the teaching of Critical Race Theory in military colleges and trainings.
- And halt all efforts to combat climate change by the US military.
The Senate’s version of the bill doesn’t include all that nonsense, but it does still dramatically increase US spending on war and weapons, especially more munitions for Ukraine. The bill now heads to a closed-door conference process where a handful of senior members of Congress will determine the final draft. And that’s the problem.
The last time President Biden and senior Congressional leaders negotiated over a must-pass spending bill in secret, the result was the debt ceiling bill that expedited the Mountain Valley Pipeline and fossil fuels. And hidden in the fine print of that same dirty debt ceiling deal was a cut to spending on domestic programs and an increase the US military budget.
There’s a better, more peaceful path forward for our climate and for Ukraine. As our friends at Razom We Stand have documented – there’s a path to peace and stability if the US and it’s EU partners will stop importing LNG, enforce real sanctions on the Russian fossil fuel industry (which includes quite a few American corporations), and invest in a real clean energy transition that creates jobs, prosperity, and a path to peace in Ukraine.
Real change and the path to peace through clean energy and climate justice start with President Biden promising to veto the fossil fascist version of the NDAA. It continues with Congressional efforts to cut the Pentagon budget and invest the money in people and the planet instead. And it’s all headed for New York on September 17, when we’ll be part of an end-the-war-and-warming crew that will converge on the UN Climate Ambition summit to demand President Biden and other world leaders end the era of fossil fuels.
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