ICYMI: Vice President Harris Visits Lake Mead in Nevada, Makes Case for Climate Action and the Largest Investment in Climate Resilience in U.S. History Through the Build Back Better Agenda and Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal

Yesterday, Vice President Harris visited Lake Mead in Nevada, where she received a briefing and delivered remarks making the case for climate action and the largest investment in climate resilience in U.S. history through passing the Build Back Better Agenda and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal. The Vice President was joined by Representative Dina Titus, Representative Susie Lee, and Representative Steven Horsford.

Lake Mead provides water to 25 million people including in Nevada, Arizona, and California. Yet this year, due to a climate change-fueled drought, Lake Mead hit its lowest level since the lake was created with the damming of the Colorado River in 1935.

See below for coverage of yesterday's trip:

Los Angeles Times: Kamala Harris visits Lake Mead to sell Biden's climate agenda amid drought in West
[Melanie Mason, 10/18/21]

At Lake Mead, Harris made a double-barreled appeal for pillars of Biden's legislative agenda. She emphasized how the bipartisan infrastructure bill that includes water recycling and desalination projects would create union jobs, and touted the Democrats' spending plan, "Build Back Better," as an effort to slow the warming of the planet.

"The Build Back Better agenda will help us tackle the climate crisis with investments in clean energy and electric vehicles, so we can reduce emissions," Harris said. "And why do we need to reduce emissions? Because that is part of what is contributing to these drought conditions."

CNN: Harris makes the case for Biden's climate priorities in visit to rapidly draining Lake Mead
[Jasmine Wright, 10/18/21]

Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday made a forceful plea for Congress to pass both parts of President Joe Biden's two-pronged economic agenda because of the climate components as she spoke in front of Nevada's rapidly draining Lake Mead.

"This is a fundamental issue," Harris said, standing at a podium in front of the desert lake. "Every living thing depends -- and requires -- on water."

Associated Press: Harris argues for Biden climate agenda at sinking Lake Mead
[Suman Naishadham, 10/18/21]

Vice President Kamala Harris stood before the record-low water levels of Nevada's Lake Mead on Monday and made the case for the Biden administration's climate change agenda by warning that "this is where we're headed."

"Look at where the water has receded over just the last 20 years," she said, referring to the "bathtub ring" of minerals that marks where the reservoir's water line previously stood. […]

The vice president pitched the administration's infrastructure and social safety net agenda as critical to tackling the effects of climate change — which scientists say intensify extreme weather events such as heatwaves and droughts.

Arizona Republic: Vice president urges enactment of climate spending on visit to drought-stricken Lake Mead
[Brandon Loomis, 10/18/21]

The white "bathtub ring" the shrinking Colorado River has left behind on the beige rocks behind Hoover Dam shows the growing urgency of acting on climate change and drought, Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters on Monday.

In 20 years of drought that was supercharged by heat, water levels have dropped more than 140 feet, creating the white band Harris talked about as she touted the Biden administration's spending priorities. […]

Harris noted that the administration's Build Back Better agenda, as proposed in the budget reconciliation bill, would fund renewable energy and electric vehicle programs in hopes of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

"That is part of what's contributing to these drought conditions," she said. "Right now we have a moment where we have the ability to actually benefit future generations," she said.

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Harris urges Congress to pass Biden initiatives during Lake Mead visit
[Blake Apgar, 10/18/21]

Vice President Kamala Harris made the climate change case for two Biden administration initiatives Monday with the declining water levels of Lake Mead as a backdrop.

Flanked by Democratic members of Nevada's congressional delegation, Harris urged lawmakers to pass a pair of bills that she said could reduce emissions, create jobs and benefit future generations.

"And it is critical that we as a nation understand that we have within our hands, within our possession, the ability to actually change the course of where we're headed," she told reporters on a Lake Mead overlook. "Just look out at this lake. … This is where we're headed."

Nevada Independent: Vice President Kamala Harris urges passage of infrastructure bill, measures to address Western drought
[Humberto Sanchez, 10/18/21]

Harris argued that the infrastructure bill — passed by the Senate in August — and the Democratic agenda package, known as the Build Back Better Act, will help make lasting changes when it comes to mitigating drought. The two pieces of legislation, she said, pave a way forward for the nation on policies such as water recycling and reuse, water desalination and drought contingency plans.

Harris said the passage of the bills could help change the current trajectory and pointed to the lake's water level, which is as low as it has ever been. Rings along the perimeter of the lake show the steady decline of the water level, which has dropped 140 feet since 2000, the last year it was considered full.

KLAS Las Vegas: Vice President Harris tours Lake Mead, discusses climate change
[Yan Kaner, Rocky Nash, 10/18/21]

Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Nevada on Monday to tour Lake Mead and discuss the Biden Administration's effort to tackle climate change. […]

In her remarks, the vice president emphasized that water shortages have a ripple effect on farmers, food supply, and economy – and that climate change will continue to make extreme weather including droughts and heat more frequent, costly, and harmful.

KTNV Las Vegas: Vice President Kamala Harris tours Lake Mead, discusses climate change with Nevada leaders
[Jordan Gartner, 10/18/21]

Vice President Kamala Harris arrived in Southern Nevada on Monday afternoon and discussed climate change amid water shortages in the state. […]

Harris also made the case for the largest investment in climate resilience in U.S. history through passing the Build Back Better Agenda and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal.

"When we look at what's happening here we know this is about this lake but it is about a region and about our nation. The infrastructure deal, combined with the Build Back Better Agenda is about what we need to do to invest in things like water recycling and what we can do in terms of implementation of drought contingency plans. This is about thinking ahead, recognizing where we are and where we're headed if we don't address these issues with a sense of urgency," Harris said.