President Obama promised three years ago that by the end of the decade America would have 5 million green jobs. We have come up a bit short. Instead, at least 14 million potential workers are jobless.
But what is a “green” job any way? To find out, start with an exchange between Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Budget and Finance Committee, and the Department of Labor.
In a letter to Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, Sept. 23, 2010, Grassley wrote:
“Since February 2009, the Department has awarded approximately $490 million in Stimulus funding designed for ‘green job’ training. Yet the Department, according to its own documents, is still only ‘working to develop a definition for green sectors and jobs.’”
Earlier—in June 2010–Grassley had written Secretary Solis noting that he had opposed the American Recovery Act (the stimulus) because it was
“loaded with spending to satisfy special interests…However, it has come to my attention that the DOL (Department of Labor) is just now attempting to define what a ‘green job’ is….more than a year after the Recovery Act was signed into law and after millions of dollars in funding have already been distributed for green jobs….I would like to understand what criteria the DOL used to give out millions of taxpayer dollars prior to the definition being established.”
-more at link-
No comments:
Post a Comment