FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 23, 2009
CONTACT: Josh Dorner, 202.675.2384
David Willett, 202.675.6698
President Obama Outlines Details on
Climate and Energy Priorities in the Budget
Washington, D.C.—Building on the success of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, President Obama will use the federal budget to add further momentum behind rebuilding and renewing our economy using clean energy. Today the president met with clean energy entrepreneurs and leaders of the research community to discuss his strategy for building the clean energy economy and creating millions of new jobs.
The President commented on his plans during his most recent weekly address: "I realize there are those who say these plans are too ambitious to enact. To that I say that the challenges we face are too large to ignore. I didn't come here to pass on our problems to the next president or the next generation. I came here to solve them."
Statement of Carl Pope, Sierra Club Executive Director
"Renewing and rebuilding the American economy with clean energy is President Obama's number one priority. The budget that the President outlined marks a dramatic shift in priorities that will revitalize our economy and create millions of new green jobs.
"This focus on clean energy will not only help our troubled economy at a critical time, it will fight global warming and make us more energy independent.
"The president's budgetary commitment to building the clean energy economy is only one of many areas where the new administration has acted with impressive swiftness and resolve. The President's comprehensive plan to address climate change, including the budget, will fund our transition to a cleaner, greener economy by making polluters pay for their global warming pollution and eliminating billions in giveaways to Big Oil. Because it anticipates such a system and prioritizes a transformation to a clean energy economy, passing the President's budget is the first step Congress can take in the plan to address our climate and energy challenges."
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