NEW YORK, NY – Last night, after months of negotiations, Senator Joe Manchin announced he would not support any new investments in clean energy and transportation, siding with the fossil fuel industry and 50 other climate-denying Senators to torpedo federal climate legislation.
Manchin, who made millions and continues to profit from a family-owned coal company and who, in the past year, has received three quarters of a million dollars in campaign contributions from fossil fuel companies, represents the continuing stranglehold oil and gas companies have over the federal government.
This is a blow to the just and livable future that Jewish communities have committed to build. Without federal legislation, it will be that much more difficult for the U.S. to meet its emissions reduction pledges under the Paris Agreement, and to achieve what scientists tell us is needed to avert climate disaster. In the meantime, Black, Brown, Indigenous, and poor communities continue to bear the greatest burden of climate inaction.
But we will continue to grow the movement for climate action at the scale that science and justice demand.
Over the past two years, Dayenu Leaders and Circles:
- Reached out to more than three quarters of a million Jewish and climate voters in six key states about what is at stake for climate action ahead of the 2020 elections.
- Led 16 in-person Hear the Call climate actions across 14 states, calling on Congress to act boldly on climate investments in the Build Back Better bill, turning out over 1,000 Jewish climate activists and allies, engaging at least 85 Jewish, interfaith, and secular partners, and garnering over 20 press hits
- Partnered with scores of Jewish organizations on Time to Deliver: A Jewish Day of Action to Build Back Better
- Rallied leaders from diverse faith traditions to organize A Moral Call for Peace and Climate Justice, giving strength and support to Majority Leader Schumer as he pushed for federal climate legislation
- Made hundreds of calls to members of Congress, and penned powerful messages and op-eds calling on President Biden and Congress to act
Rabbi Jennie Rosenn, founder and CEO of Dayenu:
“At this time of profound disappointment, I return to the powerful moment in the Torah, when Moses descends from Mount Sinai with the two tablets and, seeing the Israelites worshiping the Golden Calf, he smashes the tablets in anger and disappointment. But Moses does not give up – after some reckoning, he treks back up the mountain to get a second set of tablets, that Moses carves into stone by his own hand from God’s dictation. In the face of a painful loss, he returns to Sinai, prepared to write a different ending to the story.
This Shabbat, we will take time to grieve this setback. Next week, we return to redouble our efforts to end the era of fossil fuels and realize the just and livable future for generations to come.”