1. United States
2. Md.
3. Letter

In light of the fires in California, which will likely be the most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history, I am writing to ask you to co-sponsor the Polluters Pay Climate Fund Act of 2025, which has just been re-introduced by Senator Van Hollen and is cosponsored by Senators Ed Markey, Jeff Merkley, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren. This legislation requires the largest U.S.-based fossil fuel extractors and oil refiners and foreign-owned companies doing business in the U.S. to pay into a $1 trillion Polluters Pay Climate Fund, with their contributions based on a percentage of their global emissions. The Fund would then be used to finance a wide range of efforts to tackle the impacts of climate change. U.S. Representatives Jerry Nadler and Judy Chu plan to reintroduce companion legislation in the U.S. House later this year. As climate fueled disasters kill and displace American citizens from Florida and North Carolina's hurricanes last year, to Vermont and New York's flooding in 2023, to the wildfires ravaging southern California right now - one principal has become clear: Polluters, not citizens, must pay for the escalating costs of the climate emergency. Please cosponsor this important legislation now.