'Green' Jobs Compete for Stimulus Aid


In one of the first internal struggles of the incoming Obama administration, environmentalists and smart-growth advocates are trying to shift the priorities of the economic stimulus plan that will be introduced in Congress next month away from allocating tens of billions of dollars to highways, bridges and other traditional infrastructure spending to more projects that create "green-collar" jobs.

The debate has centered on two competing principles in the evolving plan: the desire to spend money on what President-elect Barack Obama calls "shovel-ready projects," such as highway and bridge construction, vs. spending on more environmentally conscious projects, such as grids for wind and solar power.
...
"If we're going to call it a stimulus package, it has to be stimulating and has to be stimulating now. I think there are members of our caucus who are trying to create a Christmas tree out of this," said Rep. Baron P. Hill (Ind.), incoming co-chairman of the Blue Dog Coalition, a caucus of 51 fiscally conservative House Democrats.
...
But environmentalists and their allies view old-fashioned highway construction as encouraging longer commutes and increasing the energy-consumption crisis of the past year. "They're going to put a bunch of money through a broken system to stimulate the economy. That doesn't make sense to me," said Colin Peppard, a transportation expert for Friends of the Earth.
...
Goldberg's group has studied infrastructure proposals from 15 states and found that 75 percent of their requests are for roadway construction, and of that, the overwhelming majority of money would fund new projects in outer suburbs that have been hard hit by the mortgage crisis. "We're building all this stuff for where the economy isn't anymore," he said.
... <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/23/AR2008122303023.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/23/AR2008122303023.html</a>;

by B' Spokes

Like most people I live a hectic life and who has the time for much exercise? Thanks to xtracycle now I do. By using my bike for daily activities I can get things done and get an hour plus work out in 15 minutes extra of my time, not a bad deal and beats taking the extra time going to the gym. In case you are still having trouble being motivated; the National Center of Disease Control says that inactivity is the #2 killer in the United States just behind smoking. ( http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/bb_nutrition/ ) Get out there and start living life! I can carry home a full shopping cart of groceries, car pool two kids or just get lost in the great outdoors camping for a week. Well I got go, another outing this weekend.
  • Currently 0.00/5
Rating: 0.00/5 (0 votes cast)

Share It!

Login required to comment
Details about President-elect Barack Obama’s stimulus plan have come out. He calls this economic stimulus plan the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan.” He says he is going to provide assistance for middle and low-income Americans, who are the ones who typically take out payday loans. He plans to do this in the form of tax cuts and he plans to invest in infrastructure such as bridges, roads and water mains. His economic stimulus plan has already received some negative responses even from his fellow Democrats. Recently, House Democrats today released their answer to Obama's original stimulus plan, which he unveiled last week. Their plan costs $825 billion, a bit more than the $800 billion that was originally estimated. The new plan cuts out the tax credit for businesses that make new hires. The tax cut for individuals is included though, but it's only a little bit extra in each paycheck, so a lot of Americans will probably still need a payday loan if they run into a financial emergency. Republicans, of course, are calling for more tax cuts, especially for businesses, and less spending. The Republican Study Committee released its own plan that reflects these ideals. The House is saying it hopes to have the bill finished by mid-February. To read more about the details of the House Democrats' bill, visit your payday loan source.