Washington, D.C. - Today, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, the Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, issued the following statement after the White House released Interim Implementation Guidance to advance the Biden-Harris Administration’s Justice40 Initiative, a landmark environmental justice proposal to direct 40 percent of the benefits of Build Back Better Agenda investments to disadvantaged communities :
“The White House’s new guidance is a crucial step in advancing President Biden’s commitment to environmental justice. At the Oversight Committee’s hearing tomorrow, we will hear from experts about the need to swiftly and effectively implement the Justice40 Initiative to ensure that the communities hardest hit by pollution, poverty, and public health risks receive a fair share our nation’s climate and infrastructure investments.
“The Oversight Committee is working to ensure the federal government has the tools needed to implement a coordinated Justice40 Initiative across agencies, including adequate resources to develop the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool, complete with cumulative impact assessments, co-pollution costs and climate risks, and equity data."
The new guidance comes six months after President Biden issued Executive Order 14008, which created the Justice40 Initiative and set parameters for developing the Implementation Guidance released today.
The White House also included Justice40 in the President’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2022, affirming its “whole-of-government approach to... secure environmental justice for communities that have been left behind through the largest direct investment in environmental justice in history."
Tomorrow’s Oversight Committee hearing, “Building Back with Justice: Environmental Justice is Central to the American Jobs Plan," will feature environmental justice leaders, policy experts, and community organizers key to the implementation of the Justice40 Initiative at the federal, state, and community levels.
Watch the Committee’s hearing tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. ET here.
