'Green' Jobs Compete for Stimulus Aid: Obama Weighs Them Vs. Traditional Projects

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/23/AR2008122303023.html

'Green' Jobs Compete for Stimulus Aid

Obama Weighs Them Vs. Traditional Projects

By Paul Kane and Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, December 24, 2008; A01

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.

Lawmakers opposed to the emerging-technology projects accuse their colleagues of using the financial crisis to push through pricey policy proposals that they say would do little to boost the economy in the immediate future.

"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.

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