President Joe Biden announced more than $600 million in climate investment during his three-day visit to California, which began on June 19, to help coastal and Great Lakes communities combat climate change.
Since California is a crucial state for his reelection campaign in 2024, Biden is also expected to raise money from Silicon Valley and climate donors during his trip.
Upon his arrival, he visited a coastal community and spoke at the Lucy Evans Baylands Nature Interpretative Center and Preserve in Palo Alto about his “historic climate actions.”
“What we’re seeing here is an amazing success story of how you can work together to make our communities more climate resilient,” Biden said.
“Resiliency matters. And I’ve toured many sites across the country that clearly show climate change is an existential threat to humanity.
“Last year alone, natural disasters in America caused $165 billion in damage.”
He signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law in August 2022, committing $369 billion to environmental and clean energy projects, the largest investment in the country’s history to address the climate crisis.
“I want to emphasize again that we’re taking the most aggressive climate action ever,” Biden said, noting that his policies focus on lowering fossil fuel dependence and helping communities better withstand climate change and extreme weather.
As part of this investment, he announced that the Department of Commerce will provide coastal and Great Lakes communities with $600 million to create infrastructure to defend against sea level rise, tidal flooding, and storm surges.
The Department of Energy will announce a $2 billion investment to protect the nation’s power grid from extreme weather events, including a more than $67 million initial investment in California.
During his remarks, Biden renewed his criticism of Republicans who seek to reverse his climate measures.
“Some of our MAGA Republican friends in Congress are continuing to try to undo all the progress we’ve already made in the first 2 1/2 years,” he told the crowd in Palo Alto.
“They were holding the country hostage over the debt limit unless I would cut the climate provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act. I was determined not to let that happen with your significant help.”
Biden was joined by California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.).
During the event, Newsom said California is one of many states benefiting from Biden’s climate investments.
He pointed out that California has six times as many clean energy jobs as it has fossil fuel jobs.
“California has produced roughly one out of every four clean energy jobs in America, 27 percent,” Newsom said. “This state prides itself again on being on the leading and cutting edge of this transition.”
On June 19, the president was scheduled to participate in campaign receptions in Los Gatos, California, and Atherton, California.
In California, the president will hold multiple fundraising events. Democrats familiar with the plans told the Los Angeles Times that former eBay executive and 2006 gubernatorial candidate Steve Westly and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman are among the hosts of these fundraising events.
