This morning, 150 young people occupied the hallway outside J.D. Vance’s Washington D.C. office to share their stories about how the broken economy and climate change are impacting them and their families. The protest highlighted Vance's change of tune on climate following donation of nearly $300,000 from oil and gas-linked PACs and donors during his 2022 campaign, suddenly calling it a hoax.
They held banners saying, “Vance Profits, We Pay The Price,” “Billionaires Own JD Vance” and “Vance Stop Killing Green Jobs”. Young people denounced JD Vance’s plans to kill green jobs by dismantling policies like the Inflation Reduction Act, which provided $500 million to upgrade a steel plant in Vance’s hometown. That grant created jobs and helped keep the plant open. This was the first protest at J.D. Vance’s office since he became the Vice Presidential nominee.
“I was willing to get arrested today because my future and our country shouldn’t be for sale,” said Takeira Bell, 21. “JD Vance is willing to sell our futures to the highest bidder. He will kill green jobs, give tax breaks to billionaires, and deny that there is a climate crisis just to keep the campaign contributions flowing. Today, we showed up to tell him, ‘We won’t let you sell out our families to the highest bidder.”
As recently as 2020, Vance spoke about climate change as a serious threat, even saying natural gas “isn’t exactly the sort of thing that’s gonna take us to a clean energy future.” Since running for Senate and receiving nearly $300,000 during his 2022 campaign from oil and gas-linked PACs and donors, he’s made a 180 on his climate positions.
“JD Vance says he is a champion of the working class. In practice, he’s a champion of whoever wrote him the biggest check.” said Sunrise Executive Director Aru Shiney-Ajay. “He used to talk about how we were facing a climate crisis. Then oil and gas donors and Donald Trump offered him hundreds of thousands of dollars and a chance to be Vice President, and he totally changed his tune. Who knows what JD Vance will support the next time a billionaire comes knocking.”
“As a young person who grew up in Montana, I am deeply passionate about pursuing a career in wildland firefighting so I can actively serve my community and ecosystems. To hear that JD Vance wants to cut green jobs like these that are already underfunded is a direct attack on working class front line workers and an insult to my generation” said Carly Bryant, 18.
This protest comes as Sunrise members prepare to go to the DNC Headquarters in DC later in the day to urge VP Harris to put forward a plan to fight for young, working class people that can confront the false promises from right-wing politicians like Vance.
