Former Vice President Al Gore urged U.S. lawmakers to pass President Obama’s proposed $816 billion economic stimulus package, saying it will boost the economy while “beginning to solve the climate crisis.”
“The plan’s unprecedented investments in four key areas — energy efficiency, renewables, a unified national energy grid and the move to clean cars — represent an important down payment and are long overdue,” Gore told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington today in prepared testimony.
Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress have made passing legislation to fight global warming and promote clean energy a top priority. Gore’s testimony will lend clout to their efforts to reach consensus, environmental advocates said.
Gore, who has lectured worldwide about the dangers of global warming and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for his efforts, has called for a 90 percent reduction in heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 and for the U.S. to produce all its electricity from renewable energy by 2018.
