{"id":505520,"date":"2010-04-02T14:17:29","date_gmt":"2010-04-02T18:17:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/climateprogress.org\/?p=22421"},"modified":"2010-04-02T14:17:29","modified_gmt":"2010-04-02T18:17:29","slug":"does-the-jobs-recovery-boost-chances-for-the-bipartisan-climate-and-clean-energy-jobs-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/505520","title":{"rendered":"Does the jobs recovery boost chances for the bipartisan climate and clean energy jobs bill?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Employers in the U.S. created more jobs in March than at any time in the past three years, showing the recovery from the worst recession since the 1930s is broadening and becoming more entrenched.
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That’s Bloomberg reporting<\/a> on new data from the Labor Department, which showed that “payrolls rose by 162,000 workers, the third gain in the past five months.”<\/p>\n

Since bad economic news would certainly be bad for a climate bill, this must be seen as good news. \u00a0 I have repeatedly written about studies\u00a0showing how clean energy legislation will create 1.7 million jobs and opportunities for low-income families, including lower energy bills<\/a>. \u00a0And\u00a0Nobel prize-winning NYT<\/em> columnist Paul Krugman has explained why climate action \u201cnow might actually help the economy recover from its current slump\u201d by giving \u201cbusinesses a reason to invest in new equipment and facilities.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

But the conventional wisdom, or rather, the conventional ignorance, is that a climate bill will hurt jobs and the economy — even though that isn’t what the public believes, as many recent polls make clear:<\/p>\n

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That comes from a\u00a0Allstate\/National Journal\/Heartland Monitor poll in January, when the economic and jobs picture wasn’t as good as it is today (see “It\u2019s all about Independents \u2014 and Independence<\/a>:<\/a> Unlike health care reform, the clean air, clean energy jobs bill that cuts oil use and pollution is a bipartisan political winner in every poll”).<\/p>\n

Consider a poll on the climate bill that I wrote about in September of likely voters in 16 key states \u2014 AK, AR, IN, ME, MI, MO, MT, NC, NV, ND, NH, OH, PA, SD, VA, WV<\/strong> (see\u00a0Swing state poll finds 60% \u201cwould be more likely to vote for their senator if he or she supported the bill\u201d and Independents support the bill 2-to-1<\/a>):<\/p>\n