Former Inslee Staffers Urge Biden and House Dems to Embrace $1.2 Trillion Green Stimulus as Part of COVID-19 Recovery

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Byย Julia Conley, Common Dreams.ย Originally published onย Common Dreamsย underย CCย BYSAย 3.0ย US.

Staffers who helped develop Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’sย widely-praised climate policy during his 2020 presidential run are now calling on congressional Democrats to adopt the bold initiatives included in the plan to make a shift to a renewable energy economy within coronavirus reliefย legislation.

The staffers formed an advocacy and political action group, Evergreen Action, on Thursday, a month after calling on former vice president and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden to adopt large portions of Inslee’sย multi-trillion-dollar plan. Progressive groups including Justice Democratsย askedย that Biden work closely with Inslee’s team on climate action after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) suspended his presidentialย campaign.

Both Biden and Democrats in Congress must view the Covid-19 pandemic as an opportunity to โ€œjumpstartโ€ the United States economy while transitioning away from fossil fuels and offering relief to the 36 million Americans who have lost their jobs so far as a result of the coronavirus, Evergreen Actionย says.

On social media, the group released a video along with a call for โ€œan all-out national mobilization to defeat the climateย crisis.โ€

Evergreen Action’s first proposal,ย Clean Jumpstart for America, calls for a $1.2 trillion federal investment in clean energy and offers 21 areas in which Congress could ramp up spending to shift away from fossil fuels,ย including:

  • Offering states a buy-out of revenue associated with fossil fuel projects on publicย lands.ย 
  • Stabilizing existing programs which support fossil fuel workers like the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund, while also appropriating $4 billion for environmental remediation projects which would create newย jobs.
  • Creating a $4 billion Clean Careers Corps within the Department of Labor โ€œto focus on the challenge of permanent job creation in a clean energy economyโ€ and โ€œto put people back to work, as soon as it is safe to do so, with a special focus on creating newย pathways.โ€
  • Establishing a new โ€œGI Bill of Rightsโ€ for fossil fuel workers to provide a just transition to a renewable energyย system.
  • Adopting federal Buy Clean standards to establish a clean procurement process for all goods andย services.
  • Creating a $36 billion Department of Transportation program to expand electric vehicle chargingย infrastructure.

โ€œMuch of this investment could happen immediately, and it’s definitely needed in the face of widespread job losses and hits to state budgets in the wake of the coronavirus,โ€ wrote Dharna Noorย atย Earther.

By contrast, the HEROES Act which the House is expected to pass Friday includes no funding for a renewable energyย transition.ย 

โ€œWhile aid to state, local and tribal governments is much-needed, this package, and the ones that came before it, is yet another missed opportunity to invest in growing the clean energy economy,โ€ย wroteย the progressive think tank Data for Progress, which joined Evergreen Action in releasing the proposal. โ€œSuch investments are critical to capturing the United States’ best economic opportunity for growth and confront the climate crisis that portends growing harm to the health of Americanย communities.โ€

House Democrats alsoย did not adopt languageย put forward by Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), and Nanette Barragan (D-Calif.) which would have blocked fossil fuel companies from accessing aid meant for smallย businesses.

โ€œA stimulus package without clean energy is aโ€ฆ failure to recognize the centrality of these investments in the current moment of recovery,โ€ Evergreen Action co-founder Bracken Hendricks toldย Earther. โ€œWe need to jumpstart our economy, and we need to get it moving in the right directionโ€ฆ away from fossilย fuels.โ€

The Clean Jumpstart for America proposal also offers 11 ways in which Congress can assist states in promoting environmental justice and clean energy initiatives,ย including:

  • Allowing states to access clean energy loanย programs.
  • Directing $10 billion to the Department of Energy State Energy Program, allowing states to invest in community projects and support job creation in renewable energyย sectors.
  • Supporting state and local upgrade projects to lower household utilityย bills.

Data for Progress and Evergreen Action released the Clean Jumpstart for America plan along withย new polling dataย showing that majorities of respondents supported far-reaching climate initiatives as part of the country’s recovery from theย pandemic.

Sixty-nine percent of respondents were somewhat or very supportive of coronavirus spending on environmentally-friendly infrastructure, 63% supported the green retrofitting of schools across the country, and 62% said Congress should offer tax credits and incentives to promote the construction of energy-efficientย buildings.

Main image:ย Governor Jay Inslee speakingย at the Presidential Gun Sense Forum hosted by Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, Iowa, August 2019. Credit:ย Gage Skidmore,ย CC BYSAย 2.0

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