×
×
homepage logo
LOGIN
SUBSCRIBE

Warren wants to invest millions in ‘green jobs’

By Casey Junkins - City Editor | Jan 8, 2020

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., smiles during a rally at West Delaware High School, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2020, in Manchester, Iowa. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

NASHUA – $20 trillion for Medicare for All and $3 trillion for “green” jobs.

These major spending plans espoused by Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts do not even count her strategies to provide free public college to everyone, cancel student loan debt for 42 million Americans and hike average Social Security payments by $200 per month or $2,400 per year.

Warren plans to take questions about climate change during a town hall-style meeting, set for 5 p.m Friday at the Hampshire Hills Athletic Club and Event Center in Milford.

To register, go to: www.mobilize.us/warrenfornewhampshire/event/190042.

Warren’s plan to cancel student loan debt and make public college free is fully paid for by her ultra-millionaire tax.

https://elizabethwarren.com/plans/affordable-higher-education.

“The Ultra-Millionaire Tax taxes the wealth of the richest Americans. It applies only to households with a net worth of $50 million or more-roughly the wealthiest 75,000 households, or the top 0.1%. Households would pay an annual 2% tax on every dollar of net worth above $50 million and a 6% tax on every dollar of net worth above $1 billion. Because wealth is so concentrated, this small tax on roughly 75,000 households will bring in $3.75 trillion in revenue over a ten-year period.”

https://elizabethwarren.com/plans/ultra-millionaire-tax.

Warren’s plan to protect social security and increase benefits for everyone is paid for by asking the top 2% of earners to contribute their fair share to the program. She also extends the solvency of Social Security by nearly two decades.

https://elizabethwarren.com/plans/social-security.

“… My plans for a Green New Deal will result in an estimated total public and private investment of $10.7 trillion in our new clean energy economy,” Warren notes on her website. “And independent experts that examined my ideas for a Green New Deal to analyze how they will drive job creation estimated that they will create 10.6 million new green jobs. This will help rebuild the middle class by providing family-supporting wages, career pathways, and worker protections in our new green economy. This is the opportunity of the Green New Deal: a $10.7 trillion total investment (in our clean economy that spurs 10.6 million green new jobs. And we’ll do it all together – with no community and no worker left behind,” Warren states of her “green” jobs strategy on her website.

“My plans also call for expanded technical and trade school opportunities to create pathways into good jobs in the new clean energy economy that will not require a college degree. And my administration will create regional sector-specific training partnerships to help better align training with the local job market, leverage the community college system, and ensure that workers gain transferable skills,” Warren adds.

Although Warren’s plans may seem somewhat ambitious, all top-tier Democratic presidential candidate support some form of the Green New Deal. This includes former Vice President Joe Biden.

“Biden believes the Green New Deal is a crucial framework for meeting the climate challenges we face,” states the candidate’s website.

U.S. House Resolution 109, introduced Feb. 7, “calls for the creation of a Green New Deal.”

The resolution states that “it is the duty of the federal government” to secure for all people of the U.S. clean air and water, climate and community resiliency, healthy food, and “access to nature.”

It also declares a mission of “guaranteeing a job with a family-sustaining wage, adequate family and medical leave, paid vacations, and retirement security to all people of the United States.”

Although these provisions are extremely popular with the Democratic base, they could be difficult to promote in the key Electoral College battlegrounds of Ohio and Pennsylvania. There, the Marcellus/Utica Shale oil and natural gas boom of the past decade has infused billions of dollars into the economy, including the creation or support of thousands of jobs.

Nevertheless, when asked during the December Democratic debate in Los Angeles about his policies displacing those employed in the fossil fuel industry in favor of a “greener economy,” Biden said this may need to occur.

“The answer is yes. The answer is yes, because the opportunity, the opportunity, for those workers to transition to high-paying jobs is real,” Biden said.

For his part, Bernie Sanders of Vermont supports a $16.3 trillion version of the Green New Deal.

As a goal, Sanders’s website states he wants to, “Transform our energy system to 100% renewable energy and create 20 million jobs needed to solve the climate crisis.”

“The climate crisis is not only the single greatest challenge facing our country; it is also our single greatest opportunity to build a more just and equitable future, but we must act immediately,” Sanders’ website states.

Pete Buttigieg of Indiana and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota also support significant work against climate change.

“We must channel all of our energies into a national project–one that unifies every American, from big cities to rural communities, around this urgent threat and seizes the tremendous opportunity for a new era of climate action,” Buttigieg states on his website.

Klobuchar’s website states she will reinstate President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan, which sought to significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation. President Donald Trump overturned the plan upon taking office.

“She will negotiate even stronger emissions standards that account for the progress states have already made,” Klobuchar’s website adds.

Newsletter

Join thousands already receiving our daily newsletter.

Interests
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *