The Charlotte mayor testified on Capitol Hill Wednesday, outling steps the Queen City is taking to become more resilient in the face of climate change.

Mayor Vi Lyles also offered suggestions for what Congress could do to help her city as well as other communities across the country.

“We need funding for electric vehicles, especially for our buses. We need infrastructure money to make choices that we can have that can make a difference," she said. "We need support for mass transit. And we need support for our light rail system."

Last year, Charlotte’s City Council voted to dramatically cut back on the city’s greenhouse gas emissions and carbon use over coming decades. Lyles told lawmakers about the city’s energy action plan.

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Lyles repeatedly stressed the need for more mass transit, which she argued could help reduce the number of cars on the road and improve air quality.

“We have had days where we have had to suggest that people stay inside their homes,” she said. “That’s just not acceptable.”

Earlier this month, Charlotte leaders voted to move forward with designing a new light rail route between Matthews and Belmont.

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In Washington, the debate over the role the federal government should play in addressing climate change continues to be divisive.

Big proposals, like the Green New Deal, have been a source of partisan friction.

Recently, the White House began the process of withdrawing the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement.