Even when our economy was strong, it wasn’t strong enough to lift everybody. Working people struggled. African-Americans struggled. Many of our cities struggled.
Now, in a weak economy, it is poor and working people who are again left behind. Unemployment among African-Americans has topped 15 percent – nearly double the national average.
President Obama inherited the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
It will take a long time and a lot of investment to dig us out of the ditch President Bush created. We’re on the right track this year.
We’ve cut taxes for working families; ensured men and women get paid equally for equal work; are giving children the care they need to stay healthy; and will make critical investments in health care, clean energy and education.
The steps we’re taking today will lay the groundwork for recovery. But as we try to stop the short-term pain, we can never lose focus of our long-term goal: an economy that not only recovers, but lifts all Americans up in equal measure.
Investing in green jobs that can never be outsourced is a great place to start.
There’s a myth that green jobs mostly help people in rural areas. It’s true that using today’s technologies, much of the greatest renewable energy potential exists largely in remote areas.
But if we make the right investments now, we will ensure the clean energy revolution benefits people in every corner of our country, including minority communities, and that cities get their fair share of these jobs.
We’re already seeing examples of this success. In Milwaukee, buildings are being retrofitted for energy efficiency, creating jobs for thousands from underserved communities.
In Chicago, a new green-jobs training program called Green Corps Chicago will train local workers to install solar panels for low-income homeowners.
And in Nevada, we’re working to deliver clean energy from the remote areas where it is developed to the urban centers around the country where it is needed most.
These ideas are not only starting to create jobs in both urban and rural areas, but will also save consumers money on their energy bills for many years to come. The most cost-effective, job-producing investment is energy efficiency, and we must revive and revise the manufacturing base in our cities to build the supply chain for renewable energy technology.
Clean renewable energy is also about environmental justice. Oil and coal have been polluting our air for generations, but disproportionally threaten our cities and minority communities.
Sixty percent of Hispanics and half of all African-Americans live in areas that don’t meet national air quality standards. African-American and Hispanic children in New York City have asthma rates eight times the national average.
This problem only got worse when the last administration ignored it. But President Obama has made renewable energy and environmental justice a priority.
President Obama’s commitment to environmental justice gives me confidence that we will finally fulfill the promise of a national energy policy that not only creates jobs at every rung of the ladder, saves consumers money and reduces our reliance on oil, but also leaves our children and their children with a cleaner, more livable planet.
The path before us isn’t easy. We are investing a tremendous amount of taxpayer money, and we take seriously the obligation to spend it wisely and to account for every penny.
But if we set out on that path today, we can make sure that when the economy recovers, it won’t lift up only the privileged few, but will be strong enough for us all to succeed.
Harry Reid is the Senate Majority Leader. He’s a Democrat from Nevada.
