Building back better by investing in workers and communities
America is already in the middle of a transition to a new, cleaner economy. This evolution of our national energy systems has a lot of benefits to our nation, but not everyone is seeing them. There are communities in every state that are facing dramatic shifts to their economy for a variety of reasons. In areas around the country - from the coal mining country of West Virginia and Montana to the communities that coal plants have powered for decades - workers and communities are feeling real pain. We need Congress to step up and make sure that as we build back better we leave no one behind and that we build a better future for all.
A transition that is fair for workers and communities isn't something that will just happen organically. We have to choose to invest in the economic diversification of communities. We have to choose to invest in workers. We have to choose to modernize and strengthen the industries and sectors at the heart of the American economy.
That's why we're supporting a new bill unveiled this week authored by Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) called the American Energy Worker Opportunity Act. The bill needs to be part of the Build Back Better plan currently being debated in Congress. It would provide a minimum investment of $32 billion over a span of 10 years to assist workers who are laid off as the nation shifts to cleaner, cheaper renewable energy sources. This funding would provide wage replacement or supplementation, retirement contribution and health care benefits, and make available education and training grants to workers whose employment is terminated from a coal mine, coal-fired power plant, coal transport, or oil refinery. Additionally, the bill would direct educational grants for the children of dislocated workers.
This is the kind of investment that Congress can make in people and communities to build back a middle class and enable people to stay in the communities they call home.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/building-back-better-by-investing-in-workers-and-communities/ar-AAPjYqg
The author, Jason Walsh, is executive director of the BlueGreen Alliance.