The fight for President Biden’s Build Back Better was our movement’s first, major legislative campaign, and the first shot we had at winning a Green New Deal. And we fought our hearts out. No matter what obstacles we faced, we never gave up.
Sunrise organized and mobilized across the country, marching in Northern California, the Gulf South, and Pennsylvania, to pass climate legislation. Hundreds of young people protested at the White House on June 4th and June 28th. Sunrise hubs across the country, including in Arizona, agitated on the ground, hosting actions and sit-ins, in July, September, and October, demanding their members of Congress pass a bold climate and jobs package.
It was Sunrisers – even in one of our lowest hours – who were willing to put their wills to the test against Senator Joe Manchin, a coal baron, when everybody else wanted to give up, roll over, play nice. We put our bodies on the line, didn’t eat, marched across the country, conducted sit-ins, held true to our commitments, told no lies. And at the end of the day, though incredibly flawed, we won the largest climate bill in US history.
While the Inflation Reduction Act is far from what we need to meet the scale, scope and urgency of the climate crisis, it’s a critical start. And it wouldn’t have happened without us.
