The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is widely respected throughout the South and country as a model that helped create economic prosperity. The TVA is also held in high regard for helping to move the country forward from the Great Depression. I understand that in these difficult economic times we need more innovative thinking to move Alabama and this country forward from the Great Recession. That is why I have proposed a jobs initiative that will be modeled along the lines of the TVA. I envision a TVA for the 21st century, a Green TVA. When implemented, my proposal will create thousands of manufacturing jobs, ease our reliance on foreign oil, make our nation more secure and allow us to be better stewards of our environment.
This sort of proposal which is about serving the folks of this district and our country is exactly what we need. It is the type of proposal and idea that is going to propel our campaign to victory over the former Democrat Parker Griffith who recently became a Republican.
In the first few decades of the 20th century, North Alabama was like a lot of other communities in our region. We have always had great communities and strong families, but a century ago most of those families made due with very little, and faced hardships in the course of their daily lives that few today can comprehend. Along with our nation, our region was in transition.
When President Roosevelt and a Democratic Congress created the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in 1933, a model was created for targeted government investment and innovation. An example was set for how the power of the federal government can be leveraged for great results when action is motivated by a commitment to service.
I am running for Congress from Alabama's Fifth Congressional district, because I believe the time has come to return to Congress that commitment to service. Once in Congress, I plan to put forth a jobs proposal to recapture that original spirit of the TVA, by creating what I'll call a Green TVA (GTVA). Where the TVA's primary and lasting mission is to provide low cost electrical power, the GTVA will work to enable North Alabama to serve as a center of research and development into the clean energy technologies of the future. Specifically, we will create thousands of manufacturing jobs by manufacturing solar panels and wind turbines in North Alabama.
Few areas of our country are as well positioned to leverage the engineering and technical expertise of North Alabama. Paired with the Marshall Space Flight Center and the TVA's existing research facility in Muscle Shoals, the GTVA will ensure that our region will continue to chart America's future in innovation. That innovation will draw manufacturing firms from across the globe to North Alabama, where they will find our unmatched blue collar workforce. We already have the infrastructure to manufacture and ship newly manufactured goods across the globe, where they are in high demand.
It's well known that the TVA's expanded scope of work included projects that directly created jobs, but what some might not recall is that the jobs created by the TVA went well beyond those who went on the Authority's government payroll. The positive business climate created by the TVA brought private investment and jobs far beyond those directly hired to work on energy or economic development initiatives.
In this same way the GTVA can serve as a business magnet for North Alabama, attracting private investment and partnered research in the areas that will help draw the map for our country's path to energy-independence. For every dollar -- public or private -- spent on research there is an economic impact returned to the community multiple times over. An infrastructure like the GTVA, bringing serious government investments to bear in addressing the most pressing technical challenges of our time, right here in North Alabama, is exactly what our community needs.
Like the TVA, the GTVA will play an important role in community development as well. Researching and commercializing ways to generate more energy will be most effective, only if paired with concrete steps to create a culture of conservation. So the GTVA will dramatically expand projects such as the Campbell Creek Energy Efficient Homes Project, looking into improvements in weatherization technologies. That research will then be employed by crews to make the homes of qualified seniors more efficient, to minimize the bite being taken out of fixed incomes by ever-rising energy costs. The GTVA will also research new technologies to make government buildings -- including schools and state and local government buildings -- more energy efficient, so that fewer tax dollars fly out of poorly insulated windows. Initiatives will be undertaken with clear goals, and followed up on with regular reports posted on the GTVA's website - ensuring that the tax dollars invested are going where they're supposed to go.
Though our region remains strong, our state suffers from one of the ten worst unemployment rates in the country. I believe that Alabamians look to our portion of the state, and our strong foundation to create growth that can resonate. Like the TVA before it, the GTVA represents a chance to seize this opportunity to employ government investment and a targeted commitment to service, to lift our great state out of the Great Recession just as the TVA helped lift the valley out of the Great Depression. Lastly, I consider this jobs initiative as a way to strengthen our national security because fostering energy independence will help disentangle America from countries that willingly sell us oil but hate our way of life.
Please join us in making this vision a reality by visiting www.howieforcongress.com.