The Obama administration launched Recovery.gov today - it's website to track where the money from the economic stimulus package is going.
"Recovery.gov is a website that lets you, the taxpayer, figure out where the money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is going," the website states. "There are going to be a few different ways to search for information. The money is being distributed by Federal agencies, and soon you'll be able to see where it's going -- to which states, to which congressional districts, even to which Federal contractors. As soon as we are able to, we'll display that information visually in maps, charts, and graphics."
The effort is undoubtedly part of their pledge for more transparent governance. There isn't much information on the site now, but Obama says in the video on the site that there is more to come (video below). With just a quick glance, I see a time line of key dates, a bubble break down of where the money is going and a rather nifty chart on how many jobs will be created in each state (though that's the only information there). It also has links to the bill.
What do you think about the site?
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Companies that use algae to reduce carbon emissions celebrated a small change to the stimulus bill that allows them access to a small slice of a $1.52 billion pie for carbon reduction efforts.
Elizabeth Moeller, a lobbyist at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, had feared her client, Ternion Bio, would be shut out of federal grant money to support projects that reduce carbon dioxide emissions from coal plants and other emitters.
The 2007 Energy Security and Independence Act, which established the programs some of the stimulus money for carbon mitigation efforts would flow through, gave preference to projects that rely on
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Energy Secretary Steven Chu signaled that the Obama administration may consider a tax on carbon emissions, a measure to combat climate change that top Democrats have spurned up to this point.
Chu, in an interview with The New York Times published Thursday, said that alternatives to the cap-and-trade system of reducing carbon emissions could emerge. One of those alternatives could be a carbon tax.
President Obama himself has expressed support for the cap-and-trade approach, which would set limits on emissions. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is expected to have the House vote on legislation instituting the system this year. And earlier this month, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), the chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, set as a goal the creation of a cap-and-trade system.
Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist, also said that any solution to climate change requires breakthroughs in energy research.
"I think science and technology can generate much better choices" for energy, Dr. Chu said. "It has, consistently, over hundreds and hundreds of years."
Chu said he supported putting a price on carbon emissions, but he added that cap-and-trade measures could result in an increase in energy prices and the loss of U.S. jobs to places where energy is cheaper.
Former Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) is joining the Bipartisan Policy Center as a senior fellow, according to the center.
Domenici, a six-term senator who retired this year, will counsel the center on nuclear and non-carbon forms of energy and national transportation issues.
"I look forward to this opportunity to work with my good friend Pete Domenici again after the time we spent together in the U.S. Senate,
Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), ranking member of the Senate's Environment & Public Works Committee, had sharp criticism for former Vice President Al Gore's testimony Wednesday before the Foreign Relations Committee.
Gore, a former Tennessee senator and Nobel Peace Prize winner, spoke on the dangers of global warming, urging senators to pursue a treaty to lower carbon emissions at a United Nations conference in Copenhagen in December.
Inhofe called Gore's message "desperate," and noted the irony of it being delivered on such an icy day in D.C. "They almost had to cancel it because of freezing weather, and last year they did cancel it because of cold weather," Inhofe said. "I'd say he has a real serious problem. But he's already made his $100 million, so I don't think he needs to worry too much about it. But the science and logic are on our side, and we are winning."
Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today declined an appointment on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee--the panel that presides over all tax legislation--in order to keep his chairmanship of a
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Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) will travel to Poznan, Poland, as a delegate to Monday's U.N. climate change conference, and the longtime climate advocate says he will tell the conference that "America is back" now that President-elect Barack Obama is entering the White House.
"A very significant component of the message I will carry to Poznan is that America is back--we are back in a position of participation, a position of respecting views and entering real discussions and trying to find the best framework for all of us. And I mean all of us--no nation can be left out of this solution over the long term, and we're all going to have to come to the table," Kerry said yesterday on conference call hosted by the Pew Environment Group
"It's a moment we've been waiting for, many of us, for some period of time--well, for eight years, to be blunt," Kerry said.
Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will meet in Poznan Dec. 1-12 to discuss long-term cooperation on climate change; 190 national delegations are expeted to attend.
Kerry represented the U.S. at the latest round of U.N. climate negotiations, held in Bali, Indonesia in 2007.
Kerry also said President-elect Barack Obama is poised to demonstrate that the economic crisis is not a roadblock to climate action, and that the two problems can be dealt with by the same solution: green jobs.
"You have to turn this challenge into the economic resurgence, into the economic rebound, and I think that President Obama is poised to show America how a green economy and a transformational economy, away from this dependency on fossil fuels is in fact part of the plan of restoring the economy and strengthening our economy," Kerry said.
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), named by his Democratic colleagues Thursday as chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, said that his new post is important because of his party's increased power and the challenges the country faces.
"We are at a unique moment in history," Waxman told reporters after Democratic House members chose him over the committee's former chairman, Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.).
Waxman added: "We have an opportunity that maybe comes only once in a generation. And I think that the Democratic Caucus agreed with me that we must meet that challenge and move forward on those important policies."
Waxman compared to the current situation, with Democrats controlling Congress and the White House, to past ones when Democrats were able to move legislation.
"We have a unique opportunity. And we may well turn out to be as historical as the Congress was in 1933," he said. "What I don't want to see happen is the Congress end up the way we were in 1994, without success. I feel confident we're going to have the success we need."
Waxman continued: "The American people are hurting all around this country. They're demanding change. They're demanding action. And we must live up to their expectations."
Waxman defeated Dingell, who is considered more centrist and friendlier to business interests, in a 137-122 vote.
A quarter-century old ban on offshore drilling in the United States will be left to expire, as Democrats appear ready to let the Congress go to recess absent a vote.
A provision continuing the ban will be left out of an omnibus spending bill Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.)
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) used his speech at the Republican National Convention Tuesday evening to tout the month-long energy protest that House Republicans have waged during the August recess.
"When Nancy Pelosi sent Congress home last month without an energy vote Republicans refused to leave," Boehner said. "Congressman Thad McCotter (R) of Michigan is back in the nation's Capitol as I speak leading a group of our colleagues who are continuing our... protest in the House."
Republicans began their protest last month to express their frustration with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for adjourning Congress without taking up comprehensive energy legislation. They have continued speaking to tourists in a near empty House chamber throughout the Democratic and Republican conventions. Over 120 members of the House Republican conference returned to Washington take part in the demonstration.
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