{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://stansbury.house.gov/media/press-releases/polluters-will-pay-new-legislation", "Polluters Will Pay in New Legislation", "2024-12-06", "2024", "2024-12", "Democrat", "House", "NM", "Melanie A. Stansbury", "S001218", "stansbury.house.gov", "stansbury", "https://stansbury.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014U.S. Representative Melanie Stansbury (NM-01) introduced the National Resilience and Recovery Fund Act (Polluters Pay Act) that would establish a new trust fund in the tax code called the \u201cNational Resilience and Recovery Fund\u201d with funds from taxes levied on corporate polluters who, for too long, have used legal loopholes to skirt their responsibilities.\n\nThe co-leads for this legislation are Rep. Blumenauer (OR-03), Rep. Khanna (CA-17), Rep. Omar (MN-05), and Rep. Balint (VT-AL). The 0riginal cosponsors are Rep. Grijalva (AZ-07), Rep. Ocasio Cortez (NY-14), and Rep. Huffman (CA-02). Endorsing organizations include the League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club, Earthjustice, Natural Resources Defense Council, Friends of Earth, Oil Change International.\n\nThis Polluters Pay legislation - The National Resilience and Recovery Fund Act \u2013will close those loopholes and tax windfall profits made by price gouging consumers to fund federal community resilience projects and programs across the country.\n\nSee photos from the press conference here.\n\nRead the bill here.\n\n\"The climate crisis is real and worsening. Every community is now at risk because of the greed of corporate polluters,\u201d said Rep. Melanie Stansbury (NM-01). \u201cCorporate polluters not individual taxpayers should be the ones responsible for paying the costs. Let\u2019s close these egregious loopholes and tackle the rampant price gouging of American consumers so all our communities are more resilient in the face of this crisis.\u201d\n\n\u201cCorporate greed is exploiting our communities, our health, and our future,\u201d said Rep. Raul Grijalva (AZ-07). \u201cIndustry polluters should be paying for the damage they cause, not profiting off of it. It\u2019s long past time for us to start holding these companies accountable \u2014 putting a stop to their price gouging and making them pay their fair share in taxes is a welcome start.\u201d\n\n\u201cFor far too long, corporate polluters have reaped massive profits while devastating our communities, particularly low-income and communities of color who bear the brunt of environmental injustice,\u201d said Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN-05). \u201cBy taxing windfall profits and closing corporate tax loopholes, we're sending a clear message that corporate greed will no longer come at the expense of our planet and our people.\u201d\n\n\u201cI represent a state that\u2019s on the frontlines of climate change. In Vermont, there\u2019s no denying the climate crisis because we experience it every year. It\u2019s our new normal,\u201d said Rep. Becca Balint (VT-AL). \u201cWe\u2019re calling on the country\u2019s biggest polluters, biggest contributors to climate change, to pay for their damages. It\u2019s common sense. I\u2019m proud to support this federal Polluters Pay legislation, an accountability tool which has already passed in Vermont. We need this funding for every American because the climate crisis touches every congressional district. The burden must be on the polluting corporations who rake in billions in profits each year \u2014 not on individual consumers. We can no longer afford to let them take advantage of our tax code and evade responsibility to protect our planet. They must pay.\u201d\n\n\u201cClimate disasters are wreaking havoc on communities across the country, yet the corporations driving this crisis continue to evade accountability,\u201d said Rep. Jared Huffman (CA-02). \u201cWe must hold polluters accountable by ensuring they bear the financial burden of contributing to the resilience and recovery of the communities they\u2019ve harmed, rather than leaving taxpayers to shoulder the costs of their environmental destruction. It is crucial that Congress delivers a much-needed dose of fairness and justice while building a stronger, more sustainable future for all.\"\n\nThe lawmakers want to establish a new trust fund in the tax code called the \u201cNational Resilience and Recovery Fund\u201d with monies from taxes levied on these corporations- who for too long have used legal loopholes to skirt their responsibilities. This trust fund will ensure every community has the support it needs for recovery and resiliency efforts. It will direct those revenues to a fund which contributes to federal community resilience projects and programs across the country.\n\nIn 2024 so far, there have been 400 total climate disasters resulting in almost $3 trillion dollars\u2019 worth of damage. However, it\u2019s taxpayers not corporate polluters on the hook for the cost of these disasters. Polluters who have contributed to the climate crisis should be the ones responsible for paying the costs.\n\nThis will ensure that those responsible for the climate crisis are responsible for the costs of preparing communities, not taxpayers.\n\nStatements of support are below:\n\n\u201cCorporate polluters have operated under the assumption that they can rake in profits without ever being held responsible for their part in the climate crisis. As communities grapple with more and worse disasters driven by extreme weather, it\u2019s about time Big Oil and Gas companies are expected to help rebuild and repair the damage caused by their business activities,\u201d said Mahyar Sorour, Sierra Club\u2019s Director of Beyond Fossil Fuels Policy. \u201cWe are grateful for the leadership of Rep. Melanie Stansbury in ensuring fossil fuel companies contribute a fair share in cleaning up their mess. We hope this is just the beginning of making polluters pay.\u201d\n\n\u201cBig Polluters have refused to take responsibility for the damage they have done to our climate and communities despite knowing the harms of fossil fuels for decades. We applaud Representative Stansbury along with Representatives Blumenauer, Khanna, Omar, and Balint for leading on the National Resilience and Recovery Fund Act,\u201d said Matthew Davis, Vice President of Federal Policy for the League of Conservation Voters. \u201cThis legislation would ensure Big Polluters foot the bill for critical investments to help mitigate the impacts of fossil-fueled extreme weather and combat environmental injustice, especially in communities of color and communities with low wealth that have been most harmed by fossil fuel development. Now more than ever, we need action to hold Big Polluters accountable, protect our communities, and build climate resilience.\u201d\n\n\u201cAmericans are sick of paying the price for the fossil fuel industry\u2019s profits,\u201d said Jamie Henn, spokesperson for Make Polluters Pay. \u201cEven my three-year-old knows that when you make a mess, you\u2019ve got to help clean it up. Oil and gas companies have known for decades that their product was fueling the climate crisis, and it\u2019s past time they were held accountable for the damage. This is exactly the type of legislation we need to help make polluters pay.\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T22:13:55Z"]], "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://stansbury.house.gov/media/press-releases/polluters-will-pay-new-legislation"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.6195859536528587, "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"}