Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is most certainly the "climate candidate."
The Democrat launched his 2020 bid on the premise that he would make fighting climate change his No. 1 priority, and followed it up with his 100 percent clean energy plan not long after. Pretty much every other presidential candidate has yet to introduce a climate proposal of their own, and yet on Thursday, Inslee rolled out a second phase of his plan calling for a $9 trillion green revamp of the American economy.
Inslee's Thursday proposal calls for an approximately $300 billion injection into "American industries and manufacturing, infrastructure, skilled labor, and new technology deployment," the "Evergreen Economy Plan" reads. It'll produce at least eight million "good-paying union jobs," which Inslee described to CBS News as involving a "G.I. bill" for former fossil fuel workers to learn new skills.
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While touring flood-ravaged Iowa and introducing the Evergreen Economy Plan, Inslee also revealed a plan for $7.8 billion in inland waterway improvements, CBS News reports. It all comes as a follow-up to his earlier announcement of a completely clean energy plan for American energy, vehicles, and new buildings, putting "America on a path to having all clean, renewable and zero-emission energy in electricity generation by 2035," he said a few weeks ago.
Inslee indisputably has the most extensive environmental plan of any 2020 candidate, but it's unclear just how much that's helping him. Inslee has qualified for the Democratic debates by polling over one percent in three polls, but has rarely reached higher numbers than that.
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