Climate Change
Climate change is here, and it’s affecting more Americans every day. Increasingly severe storms associated with climate change, including Hurricane Ida,Superstorm Sandy, and the devastating August 2024 storm in our district, are damaging Connecticut’s coastal communities, causing destructive flooding, closing roads, and downing power lines. The price of inaction will be far greater than if we made meaningful and drastic changes to our energy and environmental policies.
Reducing Emissions
Addressing climate change means investing in practical, long-term energy solutions that reduce our reliance on fossil fuels while supporting economic growth and energy independence. The Inflation Reduction Act, pioneering climate change legislation which I voted to pass in 2022, was an important step in that direction. It aimed to lower greenhouse gas emissions, expand clean energy manufacturing in the United States, and make energy-efficient technology more accessible for families and businesses.
Although parts of the law have since been scaled or rolled back, it helped move the conversation forward by encouraging investment in cleaner transportation, more energy-efficient homes, and emerging green technologies through tax credits, rebates, and local grant programs. Building a more resilient and sustainable future will require continued innovation, thoughtful policy decisions, and a long-term commitment to helping communities prepare for the challenges ahead.
I believe we should put a price on carbon to boost demand for renewable energy technologies, improve public health, create new jobs, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As it stands, the cost of pollution falls on the public — not on polluters. There aren’t incentives for polluters to change their behavior. A fully-refundable carbon fee would correct this market failure by shifting the cost to emitters.
Clean Energy Deployment
Decades of scientific evidence have made the consequences of fossil fuel dependence clear: increasing global temperatures, melting glaciers and ice caps, rising sea levels, changing crop yields, increasing extreme weather patterns, and mass extinctions of our fish and wildlife species. The urgency to transition to clean energy has never been greater.
The Inflation Reduction Act included a $27 billion investment to establish a Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund modeled after my National Green Bank Act that I have introduced in previous Congresses. The program was designed to help finance clean energy and emissions-reduction projects in communities across the country. Although portions of the funding remain tied up in litigation, I will continue working with colleagues and members of the Congressional Sustainable Energy and Environment Caucus to support policies that encourage innovation, strengthen energy resilience, and expand access to clean energy technologies.
Mitigating Climate Impacts
We need to invest in our infrastructure and make Connecticut’s vulnerable coastlines more resilient to sea-level rise and extreme weather events. For this reason, I supported the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which among other things, sets aside billions in funding for electric vehicle charging infrastructure, a new program to reduce transportation-related carbon emissions, and a Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-Saving Transportation (PROTECT) program to protect at-risk infrastructure in coastal states.
Another solution is to expand the adoption of nature-based shoreline projects. The Inflation Reduction Act includes $2.6 billion for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to provide grants to state and local governments and nonprofits to develop and implement projects to improve coastal resiliency. This funding would allow us to construct more coastal resilience projects, like the permeable concrete “reef balls” that safeguard Stratford Point.
Environment
During my time in Congress, I have worked to secure funding increases for one of our community’s national treasures: the Long Island Sound. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, for example, includes $106 million over a five-year period for the Sound to improve water quality and climate resiliency and restore habitats. I’ve also supported robust funding for EPA’s Brownfields Program to ensure Connecticut communities can safely clean up and redevelop brownfield sites.
I’ve also voted for a number of bills to protect the environment for future generations. In 2019, for example, I helped pass the bipartisan John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, a package of over 100 individual public lands, wilderness, water, and natural resources bills. I’ve co-sponsored and voted in favor of the Great American Outdoors Act, which ensures full and reliable funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund and provides a funding stream for long-neglected maintenance projects on federal lands. Dedicated funding from the Great American Outdoors Act will offer more opportunities to protect important Connecticut sites, like Johnson Oak Park, Sherwood Island, Carwin Park, Oyster Shell Park, the Stamford Nature Center, Jennings Beach, and Mathews Park – which have all received support through the Land and Water Conservation Fund. I also supported the Long Island Sound Restoration and Stewardship Reauthorization Act of 2025, which reauthorizes grant programs to conserve and restore the Sound and other parts of Connecticut’s coast.
I will continue to work to bring home federal dollars for projects in the Fourth District and fight to preserve our country’s natural beauty for everyone to enjoy.