http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/story?id=54326Is it a bail-out or a build-up? That's the question being put to federal lawmakers right now as they try to grapple with the nation's economic woes and with how to allocate its depleting resources.
President-elect Barack Obama says that while his administration will insist on financial prudence, it must address the current recession head-on. In January, he is expected to introduce an economic stimulus package that is reported to be in the US $500 billion range. An estimated US $15 billion would be targeted toward green energy initiatives to create or preserve millions of jobs.
To skeptics, it sounds like a giant make-work program — one that would spend billions on rebuilding the nation's infrastructure and create a massive budget shortfall in the process. But to the president-elect and most Democrats, it is a necessary step to not just avoid falling off the precipice but to also generate the next-generation of jobs and those predicated on the green economy.
"My presidency will mark a new chapter in America's leadership on climate change that will strengthen our security and create millions of new jobs in the process," Obama said in a video. "We will invest in solar power, wind power and next generation biofuels. We will tap nuclear power, while making sure it's safe. And we will develop clean coal technologies."
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