Today in Iowa, Senator John Edwards announced his plan for smart and safe trade policies that would put workers and families first, ahead of big multinational corporations.  Senator Edwards called attention during his speech to the fact that bad trade policies have stunted American wages and led to the highest level of income inequality in America since the Great Depression.

            As president, Edwards will insist on pro-worker provisions in new deals, hold trade partners to their commitments, invest more in dislocated workers and communities, and ensure that imports are safe.

            “We need new trade policies in America that put workers, wages and families first,” said Edwards.  “It is not enough for a trade deal to be popular on Wall Street or show up in economic statistics.”

            As president, Edwards will make sure we have smart and safe trade policies that help families and strengthen our economy. Edwards will:

• Be a tough negotiator who will reject bad trade deals. Edwards will make sure trade deals help regular families, include strong labor and environmental standards and fight currency manipulation.
• Demand a level playing field for trade. Edwards will assign top prosecutors at the U.S. Department of Justice to the job of enforcing trade laws, including the stronger labor and environment standards he will negotiate. He will eliminate tax incentives for corporations to move offshore.
• Revamp trade assistance to help dislocated workers and communities. Edwards will create a new "Training Works" initiative, help communities recover from mass layoffs and strengthen the safety net for workers who lose their jobs.
• Ensure the safety of imported food and drugs and enforce mandatory country-of-origin labeling, letting families choose the origin of their food. Edwards will also enforce a "zero tolerance" rule and immediately freeze the specific import of any food, toys, medicines, or other goods that threatens the health of our children and families.
• Require Country-of-Origin labeling so that consumers have the option of choosing safe, American-raised meat and poultry and American-grown produce.

Edwards also believes that in order to ensure that our trade policies and our economy work for regular Americans we need to end the influence of lobbyist money in Washington. He renewed his call for all federal officeholders and candidates from all political parties to join him in refusing to accept any form of campaign donation from federal lobbyists.

-Team Edwards

During a speech to the Silicon Valley Leadership yesterday, Senator John Edwards unveiled his agenda to promote technology, research, and scientific innovation in America.  Edwards laid out a bold and specific six-point plan that includes investments in research and education.

            "Americans have always taken impossible tasks and turned them into reality," said Edwards. "We need to take action today—not tomorrow—to ensure that we continue to lead.  If we're going to be the most innovative country in the world, we also need to reverse the philosophy of the Bush administration, which values ideology over science.”

            During the 20th century, America led the world in innovation but now America is challenged by other countries. Our students are falling behind in science education–American 9th-graders are 18th in the world in science education.  President Bush has repeatedly blocked progress by presiding over the most anti-science administration in American history, censoring research and slanting policy on issues ranging from climate change to air pollution to stem cell research.

            Here are the specifics of John Edwards’ six-point plan to recharge American competitiveness:

• Support American ingenuity by investing in education, science, technology and innovation.
• Build the New Energy Economy and create more than 1 million new jobs.
• Restore America's leadership in science and math education and ensure that American children are prepared to build on our current technology successes.
• Create universal broadband access and close the digital divide.
• Guarantee true universal health care. Skyrocketing health care costs are a heavy burden on manufacturing companies and other businesses. Edwards has offered a specific plan to guarantee true universal health care for every man, woman and child in America.
• Respect science and make sure that government professionals charged with the collection and analysis of scientific data—from medical research to mercury emissions—are insulated from political influence.

For more information on Edwards’ innovation policy, check out this fact sheet.

-Team Edwards

Senator John Edwards today announced a new initiative, the Green Collar Jobs training plan, which will offer job training and placement for up to 150,000 workers a year. Additionally, Edwards proposed incorporating energy technology into community college curriculum and the creation of Green Career Academies.

Overall, the Edwards investments in a new energy future are projected to create over a million new jobs economy-wide, jobs that would be performed locally and could not be offshored. Recently, 100,000 MoveOn.org members overwhelmingly voted Edwards’ plan to turn the climate crisis into economic opportunity here in America the best of all Presidential candidates.

The Green Collar Jobs training initiative will connect over 150,000 workers a year with skills certification and living wage jobs in the new energy economy, meeting the industry's need for qualified workers. Edwards also proposes creating 50,000 stepping-stone jobs in the new energy economy as part of his plan to end poverty in America. These stepping-stone jobs would be government-subsidized and give people with barriers to employment a chance to learn new skills and work their way up.

Proposed Green Collar Jobs grants will encourage community colleges to partner with businesses and unions to develop new energy economy education curricula at community colleges. In addition, Edwards would be committed to improving math and science education in America's public schools nationwide and supporting a network of Green Career Academies in high schools. Career academies are small learning communities within high schools that use a college preparatory curriculum with a career theme and engage employers, unions, and local colleges to participate. John Edwards will encourage the next generation of career academies across the country.

To further help fight against global warming and create new energy jobs, join the campaign to change America by texting “YOUNG” to 30644 and signing up online. Additionally, you can check out what the Edwards’ campaign is doing to reach out to Young America.

You can view a fact sheet on the entire energy economy plan here.