Something is happening in Central Illinois and around the nation. Marginal farm fields are being converted into solar farms at the edges of towns, boosting employment, supplementing renewable energy production, allowing worn out soil to regenerate without applications of herbicides and pesticides, and potentially increasing grassland habitat for birds, insects, and small mammals.

Solar arrays produce around 40 percent more energy per acre than ethanol production with fewer agricultural effluents, create twice as much profit as cropping for the landowner, and have shown to have little to no effect on surrounding land values. Everybody wins!

These installations are being made possible by funds from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), passed in August 2022. The Senate passed the IRA 51-50, with Vice President Harris breaking the tie, and the House passed it on a party-line vote of 220-207. Now progressives did not get everything we wanted in this bill, but it remains the largest step to date at the federal level toward climate amelioration and sustainable energy production.

How do we get more progressive policy wins in future legislation? The answer is simple: we get more progressive legislation with bigger, BETTER Democratic majorities in Congress.

This cycle we are busy protecting progressive incumbents like Summer Lee, Rashida Tlaib, and Jamaal Bowman from centrist (and corporate) primary opponents. We are also supporting bright new progressive challengers across the country.

The work is hard, though, and requires all of us to dig in with time and treasure. Volunteer today and/or donate monthly to ensure electoral success in 2024!

For progressive victories throughout 2024,

Debra Schrishuhn for the PDA National Team