Environmental Groups Respond to Trump Shutdown Threats, Urge Republicans to Stop Raising Energy Costs

Washington, D.C. -Today, environmental groups including the Sierra Club, Climate Action Campaign, Climate Power, Earthjustice Action, Evergreen Action, Friends of the Earth Action, League of Conservation Voters, and NRDC Action Fund issued the following statement in response to continued threats of a government shutdown from President Trump and Republicans in Congress:

"President Trump and Congressional Republicans have spent this year raising costs for working families, from energy to groceries to health care, while rolling back programs that help families deal with those costs. Now, Donald Trump and Russell Vought clearly want to shut down the government and continue illegally gutting essential services that make people's lives more affordable. Given the fact that the administration and Republicans in Congress are already ignoring the funding levels set by law that protect clean air and water, and a healthy climate, it is plainly false to call the GOP's continuing resolution 'clean.' Without real commitments, a deal isn't worth the paper it's written on.

"Republicans who voted to raise energy and health costs in the Republican Rate Hike have a choice to make: they can start to side with their constituents desperate for relief and come to the negotiating table to pass full-year bipartisan funding bills that help lower costs and protect our environment, as the Senate has shown is clearly possible, or they can continue to cower to Trump and shut down the government."

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About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit https://www.sierraclub.org.