The Obama administration on Wednesday acknowledged a wide-ranging definition of green jobs that includes bus driver, bicycle-shop clerk and other unexpected lines of employment, which the chairman of the GOP-led House oversight committee said is being done for clearly political purposes.
GOP Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, made the assertion during a hearing on how the administration counts so-called green jobs and the Labor Departments recent change to how reporters can access key unemployment reports and other information.
The Labor Department "has jeopardized the integrity of employment data in some cases for clearly political reasons," he said.
Issa suggested the administration is reclassifying such jobs to prove that billions of taxpayer dollars, through the federal stimulus program, have created green, or environmentally-focused jobs a major initiative for President Obama.
Its about politics. Its always been about politics, said Issa, R-Calif. If you work at the Salvation Army, thats a green job.
When Bureau of Labor Statistics Acting Commissioner John Galvin balked on what qualifies as a green job under the agency definition, Issa responded, Just answer the question.
Does someone who sweeps the floor at a company that makes solar panels -- is that a green job? Issa asked.
Yes, replied Galvin, who also acknowledged that a bike-repair shop clerk, a hybrid-bus driver, any school bus driver and the guy who puts gas in a school bus are all defined as green jobs.
