"Mr. Vice President, the most fiscally conservative thing this government has ever done, is to invest massively in the green part of the recovery. Because those green dollars are the hardest working dollars in the history of American politics. That same dollar that is being used to cut energy bills, is also cutting global warming gas emissions, is also cutting unemployment, is also cutting poverty, through retrofits it's also raising the value of homes, is also by cleaning the air, cutting asthma rates"
About this Quote
The phrase “hardest working dollars” is populist on purpose. It makes public spending sound like labor, not bureaucracy - money that shows up for its shift and pulls overtime. Jones stacks benefits in a rapid-fire cascade (bills, emissions, jobs, poverty, home values, asthma) to create a sense of inevitability: if one dollar can do all that, opposing it starts to look less like skepticism and more like sabotage. The list is also strategic coalition-building. Climate policy becomes a jobs program, a public health plan, a housing policy, a cost-of-living intervention. He’s not asking environmentalists to care about spreadsheets; he’s asking moderates to see climate action as basic maintenance.
The subtext is intra-Democratic pressure. Addressing “Mr. Vice President” signals a moment when the administration needed permission to be bold, and Jones supplies the permission slip: you can spend and still claim restraint, because the restraint is in outcomes - lower costs, fewer illnesses, less volatility. It’s a pitch for a politics that treats “green” not as a luxury value, but as a multiplier that pays rent in every district.
Quote Details
| Topic | Investment |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Jones, Van. (2026, January 15). Mr. Vice President, the most fiscally conservative thing this government has ever done, is to invest massively in the green part of the recovery. Because those green dollars are the hardest working dollars in the history of American politics. That same dollar that is being used to cut energy bills, is also cutting global warming gas emissions, is also cutting unemployment, is also cutting poverty, through retrofits it's also raising the value of homes, is also by cleaning the air, cutting asthma rates. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/mr-vice-president-the-most-fiscally-conservative-157537/
Chicago Style
Jones, Van. "Mr. Vice President, the most fiscally conservative thing this government has ever done, is to invest massively in the green part of the recovery. Because those green dollars are the hardest working dollars in the history of American politics. That same dollar that is being used to cut energy bills, is also cutting global warming gas emissions, is also cutting unemployment, is also cutting poverty, through retrofits it's also raising the value of homes, is also by cleaning the air, cutting asthma rates." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/mr-vice-president-the-most-fiscally-conservative-157537/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Mr. Vice President, the most fiscally conservative thing this government has ever done, is to invest massively in the green part of the recovery. Because those green dollars are the hardest working dollars in the history of American politics. That same dollar that is being used to cut energy bills, is also cutting global warming gas emissions, is also cutting unemployment, is also cutting poverty, through retrofits it's also raising the value of homes, is also by cleaning the air, cutting asthma rates." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/mr-vice-president-the-most-fiscally-conservative-157537/. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.
