Hillary Clinton released a $30 billion plan on Thursday aimed at help coal-mining communities as the nation starts to transition away from fossil fuels.
In her newly proposed plan, Clinton explains that “today we are in the midst of a global energy transformation” that is reducing the demand for coal nationally and internationally. But as this process continues, she said she would “not allow coal communities to be left behind — or left out of our economic future.”
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Her plan includes provisions such as increasing health benefits for coal miners and their families, and providing education, training and business development programs for coal workers to expand their skill sets. It’s aimed at quelling the concerns of voters who live in coal-heavy states, such as West Virginia and Kentucky.
While working-class democrats used to be the core of the Democratic Party, many have switched to the GOP in recent years.
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Still, Clinton has vowed to defend and build on President Obama’s clean energy program and defend the plan against “Republican doubters and defeatists.” The former secretary of state was the first Democratic candidate to publicly endorse Obama’s plan, which will cut greenhouse emissions for coal-burning power plans and shift away from coal and towards green energy.
Initial reactions to Clinton’s plan showed Republicans weren’t ready to buy into it.
“Hillary Clinton is Public Enemy No. 1 for coal miners and their communities because she wholeheartedly supports President Obama’s EPA agenda that is crippling their way of life,” Republican National Committee spokesman Michael Short said in a statement. “If Hillary Clinton were truly on the side of coal country, she would stand up to extreme anti-energy environmentalists that run the Democratic Party instead of embracing their agenda that is killing jobs and driving up costs.”
