Climate change is real and we must act urgently to find solutions to this threat. I proudly served on the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, and helped secure our nation’s largest investment in addressing climate change in history through the Inflation Reduction Act. I will continue to support our transition to a clean energy future and provide resources to both industry and everyday Americans to lower those costs.
National Monument Castner Range- The announcement to designate Castner Range as a national monument comes after over 50 years of advocacy from the community. Castner Range consists of over 7,000 acres of land that was formerly used by Fort Bliss Army Base as an artillery and munitions range. The Army ceased operations on Castner Range in 1966 and declared the land excess in 1971, at which community support for conserving the range as open space began to build.
Congresswoman Escobar has been a fierce and tireless advocate for this designation. During her first term, she introduced the Castner Range National Monument Act, a bill to conserve and protect Castner. During a Natural Resources Committee Hearing in May 2021, Congresswoman Escobar testified about the importance of supporting her legislation and what it would mean to El Pasoans. In addition to pursuing this designation through legislative means, Congresswoman Escobar invited several key Biden Administration officials in El Paso to expedite the protection of Castner Range. In March 2022, she hosted Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland for a tour of Castner Range. Most recently, she welcomed the Undersecretary of the Army and native El Pasoan Gabe Camarillo back home in August 2022 to continue discussions about the designation. This visit was a follow-up to a meeting in June 2022 coordinated by Congresswoman Escobar in which several El Paso stakeholders joined her for a meeting at the Pentagon with Undersecretary Camarillo and the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Additionally, Congresswoman Escobar also wrote to President Biden twice over the past year, urging him to designate Castner through the Antiquities Act.
The Climate Adaptation Plan Act - inspired by the report and the work of her Climate Crisis Advisory Committee (CCAC), this legislation directs the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator to establish a grant program to facilitate the development of climate adaptation plans for local and tribal governments like the Climate Crisis Advisory Committee Framework. Climate adaptation plans make recommendations to local governments by centering resilience measures, environmental justice, economic prosperity, and community-driven collaboration.
With Passage of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022:
- More than $300 billion to be invested in energy and climate reform.
- $60 billion is earmarked for environmental justice initiatives in disadvantaged and front-line communities, such as El Paso.
- $160 billion allocated to new and expanded clean electricity tax credits, further incentivizing the transition to a cleaner power supply, driven by wind and solar.
Overall, this monumental piece of environmental legislation will keep our climate goals in reach, reducing U.S. emissions by 40% below 2005 levels by 2030, a vital step toward halting the worst consequences of global warming.
Legislation Written by Congresswoman Escobar
- Pigs in Gestation Stalls (PIGS) Act: This legislation would permanently ban the use of gestation stalls, used to house pregnant pigs, and would require the pigs to have no less than 24 square feet of space. These implementations will allow pregnant pigs to lie down, stand up, and move about freely.
- Pigs and Public Health Act: This legislation would require a joint report by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that tracks pathogens associated with non-ambulatory, or “downed” pigs. The bill aims to establish improved, species-specific regulations ensuring proper handling and humane treatment of downed pigs – swine that cannot stand or walk unassisted– during transport, slaughter, and on-farm with the goal of reducing downed pigs from entering the food supply and threatening public health.
- Supporting Our Shelters Act: This legislation would amend the Animal Welfare Act and provide critical grant funding to local animal shelters across the country. The bill will ensure that shelters have the resources they need to care for animals, support adoption services, and improve conditions for pets awaiting their forever homes.
- Climate Adaptation Plan (CAP) Act of 2025: This legislation would direct the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator to establish a grant program to facilitate the development of climate adaptation plans for local and tribal governments like the Climate Crisis Advisory Committee Framework. Climate adaptation plans make recommendations to local governments by centering resilience measures, environmental justice, economic prosperity, and community-driven collaboration. The CAP Act continues to draw inspiration from the work of Congresswoman Escobar's Climate Crisis Advisory Committee (CCAC) and its comprehensive framework to address the impacts of climate change at the local level.
Legislation Supported by Congresswoman Escobar
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Cease Animal Research Grants Oversees (CARGO) Act: This legislation would prohibit the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from awarding financial support to any foreign program that uses live animals in research and ensure regular inspections and prompt reporting of violations of animal welfare. Despite its mandate to verify that foreign facilities receiving federal funds are complying with best practices in animal testing, the NIH routinely has failed to do so, causing undue harm to countless animals, and necessitating this legislation.
- Save America's Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act of 2025: This legislation would permanently prohibit the slaughter of equines (e.g., horses and mules) for human consumption. (Current law prohibits the slaughter of dogs and cats for human consumption. This bill extends the prohibition to equines.) Specifically, this bill prohibits a person from knowingly (1) slaughtering an equine for human consumption; or (2) shipping, transporting, possessing, purchasing, selling, or donating an equine to be slaughtered for human consumption or equine parts for human consumption.
- Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act: This legislation would ban the harmful practice of “soring” horses and strengthen protections for horses and eliminate loopholes that have allowed this inhumane treatment to persist.
- Better CARE for Animals Act of 2025: This legislation would strengthen the Animal Welfare Act and hold animal abusers accountable. Specifically, the bill would allow the Department of Justice (DOJ) to levy civil penalties against abusers, suspend and revoke their licenses, and remove or relocate animals who may be experiencing harmful treatment.
- Captive Primate Safety Act of 2025: This legislation would ban the private ownership of primates like chimpanzees, monkeys, lemurs, and more to bolster public safety and animal welfare.
- H.R. 1948: This legislation would authorize the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) to accept funding from federal and non-federal entities for wastewater treatment, flood control projects, or other water conservation efforts. Currently, the IBWC is almost solely reliant upon annual appropriations from Congress or emergency funding to build and maintain its facilities.
- Big Bend National Park Boundary Adjustment Act: This legislation would adjust the boundary of Big Bend National Park in the State of Texas.
- Children's Health Protection Act of 2025: This legislation would codify into law the only office within the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) dedicated to children's health, the Office of Children's Health Protection (OCHP). This office would be responsible for rulemaking, policy, enforcement actions, research and applications of science that focuses on prenatal and childhood vulnerabilities, safe chemicals management; and coordination of community-based programs to eliminate threats to children’s health where they live, learn and play.
