I'm not sure what kind of amending we can do to this bill in it's present state. I'm all for green jobs, and I think that industry is the future of our economy, but I'm wary of pumping another $80 billion into the industry given our current budgetary issues and state of our economy. If the benefits are worth it, I'd be totally for it, but given all the work we've already done, I think we're already well on our way to energy independence. Just IMO.
While energy independence is a good head start, we really ought to be on a path to energy sustainability. To do so, we need to develop industry and infrastructure for renewable energy to begin phasing out fossil fuels for good. I wouldn't waste an opportunity to build a better future just because progress has already been made.
Also, the "fiscal responsibility" argument is moot. The least we can do after we've run up so much debt that our grandkids will have to pay off, is put some of that into long term infrastructure investments that will save us a lot of money in the future.
By making our energy sector sustainable and continually updating the infrastructure, we will save Atlasia a lot of money in the future as fossil fuels become scarcer and price shocks become an everyday event.
We aren't going to power our entire economy on wind and solar power... but if we make investments into those technologies while exploiting domestic sources of energy, we will greatly improve our position in the world. Our entire economy and existence can be reduced to energy... the vast majority of which is provided by the sun with a minor bit coming from geothermal sources. Expensive, outdated energy will ruin our economy and cause stagnation and eventually collapse. While making energy slightly more expensive now is not ideal, it will save us money overall and greatly help in improving our economy.
