June 8, 2022 | As Congress considers additional investments to protect the environment this year, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, chairman of the U.S. Conference of the Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, has written a letter outlining the Conference’s principles and priorities.

Key points in the June 8 letter to Members of Congress include:

• “Care for creation, and especially the climate which affects all life on earth, is integral to the care for humanity. The United States, a leading producer and consumer of global energy and one of the world’s top carbon emitters, has a distinct responsibility to address climate change. This is a critical time for investments in climate mitigation, adaptation, and innovation. The inclusion of $555 billion in climate investments proposed in the House-passed budget reconciliation bill was encouraging since those policies offer a comprehensive path to achieving net zero emissions.
• “Climate legislation is being discussed alongside changes to the tax code and prescription drug pricing reforms, policies that can offset the cost of investments. We have long advocated that ‘the tax system should raise adequate revenues to pay for the public needs of society, especially to meet the basic needs of the poor’ and that ‘every person has a right to adequate health care.’
• “Climate investments and economic decisions must be guided by the common good, and further investments under consideration must help those on the margins of society, strengthen families, protect religious freedom, promote care for creation, and respect the rights and dignity of every human life.”

The full letter to Congress is available here.

The U.S. bishops have continuously reached out to Congress on the environment and common good on budget reconciliation legislation:

• Legislation on Infrastructure, April 22, 2021
• Federal Budget Reconciliation, September 7, 2021
• Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Build Back Better Act, November 3, 2021