Scores of young activists with the youth-led climate organization Sunrise Movement are protesting in the office of the House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, on Thursday morning, demanding he avert a complete government shutdown.
“As storms rage stronger, fires grow hotter, and heatwaves grow more deadly, Kevin McCarthy is playing political games with our futures,” said Adah Crandall, a 17-year-old Sunrise Movement organizer, in an emailed statement.
The activists, who traveled from across the country to attend the protest, are calling on McCarthy to support bridge funding to keep the government open, including to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) to respond to climate disasters.
The protesters held signs that read: “Climate action not shutdown,” “The GOP hates Gen Z,” and “McCarthy: Aren’t you ashamed”. Thirty of them have pledged not to leave the premises until McCarthy agrees to a deal and are risking arrest.
The US has already surpassed the total number of billion-dollar disasters seen nationwide last year, national data shows. Amid a shutdown, Fema has said it could spend any leftover funds from its primary disaster fund, but that when that money is depleted, officials could struggle to provide necessary aid.
The US also has two months until the end of 2023’s Atlantic hurricane season, which national forecasters have predicted will be especially harsh. A shutdown could force Fema to respond to coming hurricanes with an unpaid Washington staff.
“If everything goes perfect in a disaster, people still lose their lives, we still lose homes,” Steve Reaves, the head of AFGE Local 4060, a union representing Fema employees, told the Washington Post. “You complicate that with lack of funding, or a miscommunication, or a delay in the system anywhere, and you’re talking about more lives.”
The Sunrise Movement is also demanding no cuts to the implementation of Inflation Reduction Act programs – something Biden administration officials are concerned about – and the reinstating of the child tax credit.
“McCarthy and Republicans can either do their jobs, act on the climate crisis and fund our schools, or they can risk our economy appease a few extremists,” said Shiva Rajbhandari, 19, a Sunrise organizer who sits on the Boise, Idaho, school board, in an emailed statement. “Our generation is watching and we will hold them accountable for their actions.”