Massive federal investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the CHIPS and Science Act are reaching communities across the United States. One key to landing these investments in a particular community is an available workforce. While New Mexico’s labor force participation rate has remained below the national average for much of the last decade, sustained policy efforts can transform this disadvantage into an advantage right as we deliver the unprecedented federal investments from the last Congress. These needed policies include: expanding access to health and child care, boosting literacy rates, investing in broadband, and better training people for the jobs of the future. If these policies are executed in a sustained way, they can help transition more New Mexicans into the workforce and attract the federal and private investments spurred by the Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Climate change threatens not only the health of the planet but also Americans’ financial well-being. Climate disasters can quickly undermine the value of people’s homes, while the broader effects of the climate crisis can disrupt the health of the broader financial sector. One clear example is in the home insurance market, where climate-exacerbated risks from hurricanes and wildfires are making parts of America hard to insure.

Climate change threatens broader financial stability too, both through direct risks to the real estate market, but also through portfolio risks that could impact pensions and mutual funds. Adequately characterizing and valuing these climate risks with better data and analysis can inform decision making and regulations to mitigate climate financial risk. Policymakers should ensure that financial markets integrate climate risks into their decision making and turn away from anti-capitalist efforts to prevent the financial sector from accounting for environmental risk factors.