President Barack Obama on Friday announced the creation of a task force, headed by Vice President Joe Biden, that will work to create middle-class jobs that reduce pollution and dependence on foreign oil.
The task force will hold monthly meetings beginning in Philadelphia on February 27. Green jobs will be the topic of the first meeting, followed by sessions on affordable child and elder care, retirement security and college affordability.
The task force, which includes representatives from Cabinet Agencies, is welcoming ideas from the public on its website (see link below). Biden said all information from the task force will be posted on the website in an effort to make the task force's proceedings as transparent as possible.
Cabinet agencies involved include departments of commerce, education, labor, and health and human services.
"With this we have a single, highly visible group with one single goal: to raise the living standards of the people who are the backbone of this country," Biden said at a House ceremony announcing the task force.
The U.S. House last week passed much of Obama's economic stimulus package, including $80 billion in clean energy funding: $38 billion for energy efficiency, $28 billion for renewable energy and $15 billion for public transit and clean transportation.
