{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://cleaver.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/rep-cleaver-announces-12-million-investment-inflation-reduction-act", "Rep. Cleaver Announces $12 Million Investment From Inflation Reduction Act to Expand Access to Trees and Green Spaces in Kansas City", "2023-09-18", "2023", "2023-09", "Democrat", "House", "MO", "Emanuel Cleaver", "C001061", "cleaver.house.gov", "cleaver", "https://cleaver.house.gov/media-center/press-releases", "scraper", "(Washington, D.C.) \u2013 Today, U.S. Representative Emanuel Cleaver, II (D-MO) announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s (USDA) Forest Service is awarding $12 million in federal grant funding to Kansas City to plant and maintain trees, expand urban green spaces, combat extreme heat and climate change, and improve local access to nature. Kansas City was one of only 385 recipients selected by the Forest Service to receive a federal grant from the Urban and Community Forestry Program\u2014which received $1.5 billion from the Cleaver-supported Inflation Reduction Act.\n\n\u201cAs we saw in Kansas City this summer, rising temperatures and increasingly frequent heat waves are having a harmful, sometimes lethal, impact on communities throughout the metro area, particularly in low-income and minority neighborhoods,\u201d said Congressman Cleaver. \u201cThanks to this federal funding from President Biden\u2019s Inflation Reduction Act, which I was proud to support in Congress, the city now has an opportunity to substantially increase tree cover that will combat the urban heat island effect, boost equitable access to green spaces, and help mitigate the impacts of the climate crisis\u2014all while creating good-paying jobs and strengthening our forestry workforce.\u201d\n\nStudies show that trees in communities are associated with improved physical and mental health, lower average temperatures during extreme heat, increased food security, and new economic opportunities. The Forest Service\u2019s Urban and Community Forestry Program is the only program in the federal government dedicated to enhancing and expanding the nation\u2019s urban forest resources. The program aims to support entities working to increase equitable access to trees and nature, as well as the benefits they provide for cooling city streets, improving air quality, and promoting public health and safety. 100 percent of this funding will flow to disadvantaged communities as identified by the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool.\n\nCongressman Cleaver has been a long-time supporter of investments to expand urban tree canopies and plant trees in cities across the country, including in the negotiations surrounding the Inflation Reduction Act\u2014the largest investment in climate action in American history. In 2020, Rep. Cleaver introduced and helped pass the bipartisan TREE Act out of the House of Representatives that would have planted millions of trees throughout the nation. In 2021, Cleaver co-introduced the bipartisan Trees for Residential Energy and Economic Savings (TREES) Act to help homeowners lower energy costs, increase tree canopy in underserved communities and mitigate the effects of climate change through residential tree planting.\n\nAdditional information about the grant funding and the Urban and Community Forestry Program is available here.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T00:37:48Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://cleaver.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/rep-cleaver-announces-12-million-investment-inflation-reduction-act"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8936440572142601, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}