Governors' Wind Energy Coalition

A collection of progressive policy wonks, many of whom advised presidential campaigns, are unveiling a set of proposals to wrap into an economic stimulus aimed at dealing with the coronavirus pandemic that would blunt a recession, confront climate change and address inequality. “This is an inflection point for our nation. This is a pivotal moment to put tens of millions of Americans back to work, building a healthy, clean, and just future,” the authors said.

The authors want an economic stimulus of at least $2 trillion, which would be followed annually with a program totalling 4 percent of GDP, or about $850 billion, a substantial enough figure to avoid what they called the “sluggish recovery” from the 2009 federal stimulus. The ideas stretch across eight pillars: housing and civic infrastructure; labor and manufacturing; energy workers and infrastructure; agriculture and rural communities; green infrastructure and public lands; regulations, innovation and public investment; transportation; and foreign policy.

Signatories include Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, a marine biologist who advised Sen. Elizabeth Warren‘s (D-Mass.) campaign, Daniel Kammen, a University of California-Berkeley energy professor who advised Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s presidential run, and advisers to Sen. Bernie Sanders ‘ (I-Vt.) campaign: Billy Fleming, the Wilks Family Director of the Ian L. McHarg Center at University of Pennsylvania, Daniel Aldana Cohen, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, and Mark Paul, assistant professor of economics and environmental studies at the New College of Florida.