Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said that the nearly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill – which advanced in the Senate Wednesday after weeks of negotiations – has “great potential” to bring the United States closer to meeting President Joe Biden's energy goals, even as she acknowledged there is much more to be done.

What You Need To Know

  • U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm praised the bipartisan infrastructure package on Wednesday, saying the nearly $1 trillion has “great potential” to move the nation closer to meeting its energy goals

  • Granholm noted that the bill includes more than $70 billion in funding for Biden’s climate goals, including updating the U.S. power grid and as well as billions for electric vehicles and buses.

  • She also touted the job creation aspect of the bill – pointing to a recent study that found, if passed, the legislation would create an estimated 2 million jobs a year for the next ten years

  • Still, Granholm conceded that the bill was a “first step” towards fighting climate change, and acknowledged there is much work to be done in meeting Biden’s goal of 100% clean electricity by the year 2035.

“I think this is a hugely transformational piece of legislation,” Granholm told Spectrum News. “It’s a historic investment in our nation’s infrastructure and in the bones of this country,” she said, “and it goes significantly far” in meeting Biden’s goals on infrastructure.

Asked to respond to some progressives who have argued that the bill does not go far enough to address climate change, Granholm pointed out that the bill has provisions for clean energy, including an investment of more than $70 billion in projects such as updating the U.S. power grid. The bill also allocates billions for electric vehicle infrastructure, as well as funding for zero-emission and low-emission buses.

The package is a “historic investment in electric vehicle infrastructure," she said. "And it's an historic investment in the electrification [of] municipal and school buses. That's all really great and really important.”

Still, Granholm conceded that the bill was a "first step," and that much more work that needs to be done to combat climate change.

So what’s the next step? Hopefully, she said, a commitment “as a nation to clean energy,” noting that Biden has asked for a 100% clean electricity standard by 2035.

 

There are also a number of clean energy provisions in the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation measure that President Biden and Democrats hope to pass alongside the nearly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, including creating a civilian climate corps, tax incentives for electric vehicles and clean energy, as well as a clean energy standard.

“That's going to require something called a clean energy standard," Granholm added. "That's in that second step we talked about. And so the climate activists really want to see both pieces pass. So this is the first step, the second step is to come.”

House lawmakers “on the Democratic side, certainly – and hopefully a few on the Republican side, too – want to see a commitment as a nation to clean energy,” Granholm said.

Granholm also sought to underscore the Biden administration’s commitment to “leading by example” in modeling energy efficiency in its infrastructure projects: "We want to make sure that all of the federal buildings are energy efficient, are getting to the goal of net zero carbon emissions that the president has put forward."

“What the federal government is doing is leading by example," she added. "Both to create buildings that are energy efficient – maybe even some that generate clean energy – but also that we're buying those products here in America.”

Biden this week advocated for government investments and clean energy, proposing stronger Buy American rules to bolster U.S. manufacturing. 

"In recent years, 'Buy American' has been a hollow promise," Biden said in Pennsylvania Wednesday. "My administration's going to make 'Buy American' a reality. And I'm putting the weight of the federal government behind that commitment."

The U.S. government “is making a market or helping to create or expand a market for clean energy products, which means more jobs,” Granholm said, citing a recent Moody's study touted by the White House, which says Biden's economic agenda could create almost 2 million jobs annually. “And that's really significant.”

Once the bill ultimately goes to the House, there will be a little bit of “back and forth,” Granholm said. But once the bill is actually signed, “a lot of the projects are teed up and ready to go.”

The bottom line, she said, was “getting a bipartisan group of senators to agree to spend $550 billion on our nation's infrastructure in a historic series of investments: in infrastructure, in broadband, in [the] transmission grid, and electric vehicles, [in] roads and bridges, and water pipelines…” Granholm said.

“I mean, I know everybody always jokes about it being ‘infrastructure week,’” she added. “It’s been ‘Infrastructure week’ for weeks and weeks! But hey, it’s really infrastructure week.”