Vice Presidential Pool Reports of July 14, 2023

VP travel pool report #1 - CSU arrival

VP motorcade arrived at Coppin State University at 2:02 p.m.

VP travel pool report #2 -

VP began pool briefing with community leaders at Colin State University College of Business at 2:03 p.m.

VP travel pool report #3 -

VP and EPA Administrator Michael Regan were briefed by representatives from local green organizations and Baltimore City Councilman Mark Conway and about environmentally friendly economic and job opportunities, community solar energy and financial security, the local impact of climate change and the value of federal resources to implement these services. Press left at 2:18.

Quotes and color to come

VP travel pool report #4 - VP briefing highlights

Speaking to Baltimore City Councilman Mark Conway about his plan to create a quasi-governmental resilience authority, which would focus on establishing eco-friendly infrastructure projects to combat the local effects of climate change in Baltimore:

"The beauty of also what you're doing at a local level with your feet literally on the ground in community, and then connecting all of these aspects of what we need to do as a world, but thinking about it in terms of the individuals in the community, thinking of it in terms of investmenting in innovation, and including an investment in innovation in government. That is to be applauded -- that is no small matter. It takes a lot of belief and faith and hard work. So congratulations to you. It's really wonderful. What you're doing here in the community is really a model for the country, and that's why we're here -- to really uplift the innovation."

VP travel pool report #5 - VP speech

VP stopped at Coppin State University with EPA Administrator Michael Regan to announce a "historic" $20 billion investment to establish a national clean financing network and fund community-based clean energy projects. The funding will come from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a $27 billion investment that was included in the Inflation Reduction Act. VP spoke to a full house in the James Weldon Johnson Auditorium at Coppin State University about the public health, labor and economic benefits of "dramatically accelerating" community work to combat climate change, which she called "one of the most urgent matters of our time." The address began at 3:29 and lasted 16 minutes.

Harris received 2 standing ovations, and the audience applauded throughout her address.

Address highlights to come.

VP travel pool report #6 - VP departs

VP left Coppin State University at approximately 4:00.

VP travel pool report #7 - VP address highlights

-It is clear that the clock is not only ticking – it is banging and we must act.

-I think we've finally, at least in our progress, come to the point that most people can no longer deny it because it's so obvious, and we have seen around our country where communities have been choked by drought, have been washed out by floods and decimated by hurricanes.

-For years, one of the missing pieces in our strategy to fight the tide is that we have not invested at scale in community climate action. For years, the people of the community -- folks who know what their neighborhood needs and how to provide it -- have not been given adequate resources to implement climate solutions that match the magnitude of the crisis we face. And that's why we're here today.

-I'm proud to announce the largest investment in financing for community-based climate projects in our nation, and one of the reasons it is so significant is because we also, frankly, have to make up for lost time.

-In all of this work, we have put a special focus on communities that have been historically left out and left behind. The climate crisis impacts everybody, but it does not impact all communities equally.

-To address this inequity, nearly $12 billion of this funding we're announcing today will be invested in overlooked communities.