Two-in-Three Voters Favor Creating National Green Bank
Abstract
In a new in-depth survey, two-thirds of registered voters favored legislation calling for the federal government to create a national green bank to invest in and promote private investment in clean energy. Green banks are public, non-profit banks and currently exist at state and local levels.
The legislative proposal respondents evaluated is called the National Climate Bank Act, which would create a national bank with $35 billion of seed money, to support existing green banks, help to create new ones in US cities and states, and invest directly in clean energy projects.
The basis of the legislative proposals were two bills in the 116th Congress (National Green Bank Act and National Climate Bank Act). The National Climate Bank Act has been resubmitted in the 117th Congress and is earmarked at a higher level of funding.
Notes
A policymaking simulation is an online process that puts citizens in the shoes of elected officials by simulating the process they go through in making policy decisions. Each simulation introduces a broader policy topic and then presents a series of modules that address a specific policy option that is currently under consideration in the current discourse.
For each module, respondents:
1) receive a short briefing on a policy issue and the option or options for addressing it;
2) evaluate arguments for and against the policy options; and
3) finally, make their recommendation for what their elected officials should do.