Apollo Weekly Update, 1/23/09: Inaugural Address, Clean Energy, Stimulus

Five times in his inaugural address President Barack Obama noted the urgency of the three crises - energy, climate change, and jobs - that have pushed the nation to a code red emergency and newly galvanized our work at the Apollo Alliance.

“The ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet,” said President Obama. His solution: “We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age.”

“We will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet,” President Obama continued. “And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect.”

Later, the president said: “We will act — not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories.”

Now comes the hard work of making change. Last week, the Obama administration and House leaders made public a $825 billion stimulus package that included $550 billion in spending proposals and $275 billion in tax cuts. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill is the largest spending proposal in American history.

A significant piece of its foundation is the $112.9 billion that the House and the administration want to invest to develop a new clean energy economy and train the millions of green-collar workers needed to take America to a new era of prosperity. The scale of the investment, and the various ways that the government wants to spend the money closely match the clean energy, good jobs investment strategy that the Apollo Alliance proposed last year.

The New Apollo Program, released last fall, proposed a 10-year, $500 billion investment to catalyze the clean energy future. As a one-year down payment on The New Apollo Program, we proposed The Apollo Economic Recovery Act in December. This $50 billion proposal emphasizes investments in infrastructure, efficiency, manufacturing, renewable energy projects, and research and development; its intent is to put Americans to work right away and move the country toward climate stability, energy security, and economic prosperity for the long term.

The House version of the stimulus bill includes many of Apollo’s priorities called for in the Apollo Economic Recovery Act. The new administration and the House leadership embraced Apollo’s recommendations for energy efficiency retrofits, renewable energy projects, transit projects, and research and development for clean tech. This week we posted a thorough analysis comparing the reinvestment bill to our Economic Recovery Act.

Congressional debate on the stimulus bill is expected to begin next week. Though the stimulus bill has some strong green-collar jobs provisions, we at Apollo believe that Congress shouldn’t stop until the entire bill advances our clean energy, good jobs goals. We are working this week and next to make that case with our partners and with elected leaders.

Right now, billions in the bill are slated for construction projects for military bases, health care facilities, schools, and other institutions - but with no requirement that these projects be done in an efficient or green manner. Billions more are directed to public projects with no job standards or labor protections attached. This has to change. The Obama administration and Congress need to make sure that federal funds for infrastructure, manufacturing, or construction is spent in a way that moves America toward oil independence and broadly shared economic prosperity.

The Apollo Alliance has set out to strengthen the reinvestment bill and prepare for the important Congressional debates on a new energy bill, a new transportation bill, and other legislation that will follow this year.

Take a look at the articles we’ve posted and be assured that we are closely covering the Congressional debate and its outcomes. Check back regularly to our Web site. Do you think the stimulus bill will do enough to propel America to a clean energy, good jobs future? What are its strengths and weaknesses. Let me know. Send your dispatches to keith@apolloalliance.org and we’ll post them in our next Feedback feature.