Washington, D.C. -Today, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, Chairwoman of the Oversight and Reform Committee, introduced H.R 5477, the Federal Agency Climate PREP Act, to ensure the federal government has a comprehensive plan to tackle climate change.
“After New York and frontline communities across the country were devastated by Hurricane Ida, now is the time for the federal government to step up and help communities better prepare for and mitigate the effects of the next extreme weather event," said Chairwoman Maloney. “The Federal Agency Climate PREP Act would play a critical role in ensuring that the federal government works in concert with local and state governments to better plan for and mitigate the very real climate crisis we face."
The Federal Agency Climate PREP Act builds on the Biden Administration’s historic Executive Order 14008, entitled “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad," to ensure each federal agency creates and maintains a climate action plan informed by the communities and populations impacted by climate change and extreme weather. Climate action plans include agency efforts to reverse the disproportionate impacts of climate change on frontline communities.
The Federal Agency Climate PREP Act also creates an interagency council focused on coordinating and tracking implementation of federal actions on climate change preparedness, mitigation, and resilience. The council will work alongside state and local governments, academic and research institutions, and the private and nonprofit sectors to help identify how and where the federal government should deploy its resources.
The Federal Agency Climate PREP Act is currently cosponsored by Oversight Committee Members Reps. Eleanor Holmes Norton, Kweisi Mfume, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Gerald E. Connolly, Jamie Raskin, Stephen Lynch, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Ro Khanna.
