Press Room

β€˜Build Back Better’ Act Advances Through the U.S. House of Representatives

The historic proposal would represent a significant opportunity to address climate risks to birds, people, and places we need.
By ±¬ΑΟΉ«Ιη
Published November 19, 2021

WASHINGTON – The US House of Representatives passed the Build Back Better Act today. The legislation moves onto the Senate for consideration.  

β€œFrom state to state this bill will help birds and people by making coastal communities more resilient, addressing drought in the West, increasing deployment of clean energy and vehicles, and building natural climate solutions across the nation’s working lands in partnership with farmers and ranchers and Indigenous leaders,” said Marshall Johnson, acting chief conservation officer, ±¬ΑΟΉ«Ιη. β€œThis generational investment is a big step forward to reducing carbon pollution and protecting people and wildlife from the climate risks we face.” 

A 2019 ±¬ΑΟΉ«Ιη reportβ€―found that two-thirds of North American bird species will be vulnerable to extinction unless global temperature rise is slowed.β€―In a recent review of public and private lands, ±¬ΑΟΉ«Ιη experts found significant overlap between the places that are important for birds’ survival and the ability to naturally store carbon, provided these places are restored and maintained. 

β€œWhile passage of the bipartisan infrastructure legislation represented a significant step forward for many conservation issues, further steps must be taken now, including the Build Back Better Act, to address the magnitude of the challenge we face as a nation from a changing climate,” added Johnson. 

The Build Back Better Act also contains a single sentence that would help protect one of the world’s wildest places: a provision that would end a mandate to drill for oil and gas in the .  

β€œThis opportunity to protect the Arctic Refuge can’t be wasted,” said Johnson. β€œCongress must come together and pass the Build Back Better Act.” 

 

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The ±¬ΑΟΉ«Ιη protects birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow. ±¬ΑΟΉ«Ιη works throughout the Americas using science, advocacy, education, and on-the-ground conservation. State programs, nature centers, chapters, and partners give ±¬ΑΟΉ«Ιη an unparalleled wingspan that reaches millions of people each year to inform, inspire, and unite diverse communities in conservation action. A nonprofit conservation organization since 1905, ±¬ΑΟΉ«Ιη believes in a world in which people and wildlife thrive. Learn more at and on Facebook, and Instagram @audubonsociety.

 

Media Contact: Matt Smelser, matt.smelser@audubon.org