Senator Edward J. Markey

Roles: Special Guest

 

Senator Ed Markey is internationally recognized for his pioneering leadership in addressing the climate crisis, protecting the environment, promoting social justice, consumer safety, and advancing telecommunications and internet policy. He is deeply committed to improving the lives of the people of Massachusetts and our country. With a distinguished public service career spanning more than four decades, he holds a prolific record of legislative achievements in the United States Congress. Among his many accomplishments, Senator Markey is the Chair of the Senate Climate Change Task Force and served as the Chair of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Select Committee on Global Warming and Energy Independence from 2007 – 2010. In the U.S. House of Representatives, he served as the Ranking Member of the Natural Resources Committee and the Chair of the Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment of the Energy and Commerce Committee. Senator Markey has amassed an unparalleled record of energy and environmental legislative accomplishments. He has fought to create new jobs in American clean energy and served as a leading consumer champion against rising gas prices and foreign oil. He is the principal House author of the 2007 fuel economy law, which will increase fuel economy standards to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025, the first increase in a generation. He also is the author of the appliance efficiency act of 1987, which stopped the construction of hundreds of coal-fired plants, and he wrote the revolutionary law that requires electricity regulators to open up the wholesale electric power market for the first time. In 2009, he co-authored the only comprehensive climate legislation to pass a Chamber of Congress, the American Climate Security Act (Waxman-Markey bill). In the Senate, he is the leader and co-author of the Green New Deal legislation and the co-author of the National Climate Bank Act, which would establish a federal bank to leverage public and private funds to invest in clean energy technologies and infrastructure. He has also authored legislation to prioritize clean energy tax incentives to increase the adoption of zero-emission technologies.  

Alongside his deep commitment to environmental concerns, Senator Markey is a founder of the National Nuclear Freeze moment and an innovative legislator and champion for a wide range of social justice issues. These include nuclear nonproliferation, net neutrality, Wall Street reform, women’s health, LGBTQ rights, and gun control, among many others. Senator Markey is married to Rear Admiral Susan Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.A.