Clean Energy Jobs Mean American Progress

Poor Darrell Issa.

Just nine months after his fellow House Republicans became captives of the tea party gang, he seems to have forgotten the difference between propaganda and progress.

Fortunately, the American people have not.

In a hearing today before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee he chairs, Issa, R-Calif., accused President Obama of waging a "propaganda" campaign to tout green jobs.

That will come as something of a surprise to the 2.7 million Americans who got up this morning and went to work making power from the wind and the sun, making cars that top 40 miles to the gallon and making our homes and workplaces more efficient.

That's not propaganda - it's progress.

The fact is, green jobs are a bright spot in a lackluster economy. For nearly 3 million American families, these jobs are a lifeline in tough times.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee serves a vital function. When exercised responsibly, its authority protects taxpayers. And if the committee documents wrongdoing, in federal support for emerging industries or anywhere else, people should be brought to account.

But oversight authority is not enhanced when it appears to become a political tool. Caution is in order to ensure that it doesn’t.

 Issa isn’t everyone’s idea of a paragon of comity.

Last January he called the Obama White House "one of the most corrupt administrations." He later apologized.

In partisan phraseology  that would make Mao Zedong blanch, Issa titled Thursday's hearing "How Obama's Green Energy Agenda is Killing Jobs."

Now he's attacking a strength in our struggling economy and trying to somehow cast success as failure?

This is the same Darrell Issa, it must be noted, who sought assistance from the very green jobs program he's now criticizing, as did a number of other congressional Republicans.

In January, 2009, Issa helped an electric automaker apply to the Department of Energy for assistance.

Electric cars, Issa wrote, "will aid U.S. long-term energy goals by shifting away from fossil fuels and using viable renewable energy sources like plug-in electric energy." Additionally, he wrote, these vehicles "will reduce dependence on foreign oil and enhance energy security."

That's exactly right. That's why presidents stretching back to Richard Nixon have been calling on us to break our costly addiction to oil, which is draining our economy, compromising our security and threatening our environment and health. Developing alternatives is a national goal worthy of appropriate resources.

And here's the best part. We know how to make our homes and workplaces more efficient. We know how to develop cleaner, safer, more sustainable sources of power and fuel. Our workers have the skills we need - and nearly 3 million of them are already working at it every day.

Rather than playing partisan games and pretending these jobs don't exist, we need to support this sector and help it to grow.

We need to help American workers succeed in the global market for efficiency gains and renewable power, a market worth trillions of dollars in just the decade ahead.

And we need, all of us, to roll up our sleeves and get to work creating the clean energy solutions of tomorrow. That will make us stronger, as a country, healthier, as people, and more secure in the future we share.

That's not propaganda, Mr. Chairman. That's American progress.