ORLANDO, FL – Rep. Demings (FL-10) has joined U.S. Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Congresswoman Deb Haaland (NM-01) and a coalition of grassroots groups to introduce a bold plan for economic renewal known as the Agenda to Transform, Heal, and Renew by Investing in a Vibrant Economy, or THRIVE Agenda.
Eighty members of Congress across both chambers, including Rep. Demings, have endorsed the THRIVE resolution as original co-sponsors. THRIVE lays out the unifying principles necessary to build a society that enables dignified work; increased racial, economic, gender, and environmental justice; healthy communities; and a stable climate.
Said Rep. Demings: “Today I'm proud to announce my support as an original cosponsor of the THRIVE Agenda. Let's stop pretending that climate change, racial injustice, and economic inequality are outside of our control. The THRIVE Agenda puts people first by unequivocally stating that our health, climate, and human rights are intertwined.
“Each of us, and our children, deserves a future where we can live in health and security, both economic and environmental. There is so much that we can accomplish when we see that our challenges—race, health, climate, jobs—are interconnected, not separate. By reinvesting in forgotten communities, protecting workers' rights, and building a new, clean economy, we can transform our country and future.”
“The solutions to help rebuild from the current health and economic crisis will help combat another – the climate crisis. The THRIVE Agenda is the kind of economy-wide job and justice creation mobilization we will need,” said Senator Markey. “We can and must do more than simply rebuild our economy, we must transform it -- into an economy and a democracy that works for all Americans and saves the planet. We can thrive as we recover, and I thank Rep. Haaland and my Senate colleagues for their partnership on this important agenda.”
“The promise of the American dream should be available and accessible to everyone, but right now, our country is facing crises that are fatefully intertwined: tens of millions of people are unemployed, the COVID-19 pandemic rages, racial and economic injustice are rampant , and the climate crisis is accelerating,” said Congresswoman Deb Haaland, Vice Chair of the House Natural Resources Committee. “I grew up in a culture that welcomes everyone, a culture in which we support each other in times of need so everyone thrives. We have an opportunity to not just recover from these interlocking crises, but to thrive by creating millions of good paying, union, clean, green jobs while building a more just, healthy, and stable economy that leaves no one behind.”
A copy of the THRIVE Agenda resolution can be found HERE.
A one-page overview of the THRIVE Agenda can be found HERE.
A new poll finds that the eight pillars of the THRIVE Agenda are broadly popular across the country. Additionally, a new economic analysis from the University of Massachusetts Amherst finds that a bold economic renewal plan, as outlined in the THRIVE Agenda, would create nearly 16 million new jobs. Under this agenda, these 16 million new jobs would offer safe workplaces, family-sustaining wages and benefits, and access to unions. These workers would be part of a national agenda to deploy clean and affordable public transit, replace lead pipes for clean water, expand wind and solar power, care for our children and the elderly, retrofit buildings to cut costs and pollution, expand manufacturing of clean technologies, restore our wetlands and forests, and grow food sustainably on family farms.
The THRIVE Agenda is supported by more than 200 national and local organizations, including the American Federation of Teachers, Center for American Progress, Church World Service, Climate Justice Alliance, Color of Change, Communications Workers of America, Green New Deal Network, Indigenous Environmental Network, League of Conservation Voters, Movement for Black Lives, People’s Action, Service Employees International Union, Sierra Club, Sunrise Movement, United We Dream.
“To meet this moment, we cannot accept short-term solutions that pretend our problems are siloed and don't seek to transform the systems that harm Black people,” said Karissa Lewis, National Field director, Movement for Black Lives. “We can’t stop police from murdering Black people, without divesting from policing and investing in Black and Brown communities through secure jobs with living wages and benefits. We can’t address a pandemic that is ravaging Black and Brown people without ensuring access to quality health care and the basic right of not living with or drinking toxic pollutants. Everything is connected, and we do ourselves a grave disservice by maintaining normality when momentum is on our side and the people are demanding more.”
“Indigenous peoples know that everything in life is connected and related,” said Tom BK Goldtooth, Executive Director, Indigenous Environmental Network. “This is also the case with the issues humanity are facing today. The THRIVE Agenda addresses the climate crisis, racial injustice, mass unemployment, economic injustice and the global pandemic while recognizing the importance of recognition of our Indigenous and tribal sovereignty and treaty rights. Indigenous knowledge provides a path forward, acknowledging any form of economic recovery must respect the sacred relationship to Mother Earth, to assure nature and ecosystems are not viewed as capital in a carbon and conservation offset market system and THRIVE recognizes that.”
“We’re thrilled to see so many forces uniting behind this agenda, which delivers a clear mandate for the next administration and Congress to get started on a Green New Deal to tackle climate change and lift us out of economic recession,” said Varshini Prakash, Co-founder and Executive Director, Sunrise Movement. “Between now and November we're getting to work mobilizing our generation to defeat Trump and elect a new generation of leaders to Congress who will fight to make this vision a reality.”
“Communities across the country cannot afford incremental and piecemeal solutions to the dire intersectional issues we face, including the climate crisis, racial injustice, mass unemployment, and the deadly pandemic, to name a few,” said Michael Brune, Executive Director, Sierra Club. “Our government must rise to the moment and enact the bold, large-scale solutions outlined in the THRIVE Agenda, which lays out a forward-thinking vision that creates millions of secure jobs, supports cleaner air and a more stable climate, takes aim at racial injustice, and invests in the health of frontline communities. The Sierra Club calls on members of Congress to take immediate action and invest in a healthy, just, equitable economic recovery for all.”
“Black, brown, white, and Asian Pacific Islander working-class families are more likely to live in zip codes with hotter temperatures, dirtier air, or more polluted water,” said Rocio Sáenz, International Executive Vice President of the Service Employees International Union. “That’s not an accident. It’s the outcome of policies that force working people to suffer the worst consequences of a changing climate. As frontline service and care workers, SEIU members will fight for the THRIVE Agenda because we want policies that create a secure, livable future for our kids and grandkids.”
“As our nation confronts a global health pandemic, a recession, and as fires rage in California and a White House bent on division and fear rather than confronting the long needed reckoning with racial, environmental and economic justice, the THRIVE agenda helps lay out a plan to meet this moment,” said Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers. “It includes investing in equitable public education opportunities, including career and technical education pathways that prepare students for high-quality jobs of the future, and providing for the critical social, emotional academic and digital supports kids need to learn and thrive. After decades of neglecting our schools and other critical public institutions, it’s clear we must put investment at the center of the agenda, and demand the federal government take action to fund our future. THRIVE contains important building blocks in our journey toward a more just and equitable future for all.”
