Biden: Green Jobs Will Aid Middle Class

Joe Biden is kicking off his Middle Class Task Force work in Philadelphia today, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Vice President Joe Biden will be in Philadelphia today to hold his first official Middle Class Task Force meeting.

The focus of the meeting this afternoon at the University of Pennsylvania's William B. Irvine Auditorium is creation of green jobs as the pathway to a strong middle class and the economic recovery.

In advance of the talk, Biden penned an op-ed for the Inquirer, highlighting some of what are likely to be his key talking points:

Right here in Philadelphia, for example, there are 400,000 rowhouses that could be weatherized and made more energy-efficient. Just doing that would lower household energy consumption by 20 to 40 percent, saving families hundreds of dollars a year.

Fortunately, as we will stress in our meeting here today, Mayor Nutter, Gov. Rendell, and other state and city officials across the nation are ready to help us build a greener economy. Philadelphia, for example, is working with its unions, universities, and community colleges to impart green skills to workers from all walks of life. The city is also proposing a new public authority to support large-scale green investment, especially in weatherization, building retrofits, and infrastructure.