President Joe Biden wants to employ an army of young people to fight climate change through a federal program called the Civilian Climate Corps, which was included in the Build Back Better bill.
The program would be modeled after the Civilian Conservation Corps formed during the Great Depression.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt started the conservation group to give millions of out-of-work young men jobs building parks and working communities while the Great Depression raged on.
While a pay rate has not been set for workers under the new group, supporters are advocating for at least $15 an hour and health insurance.
The program would also receive up to $30 billion in funding to organize, hire and deploy hundreds of thousands of people over the next five years.
The Civilian Climate Corps would fight climate change in various ways, like planting trees, helping communities transition to a clean form of energy, and assisting local governments in preparing for disasters made worse by the planet warming.
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Sen. Bernie Sanders is among the supporters calling for the jobs to be well paid to attract applicants. Supporters also are calling for job training and union membership so that civilians could leave the group with a marketable skill, USA Today reported.
The details are still being discussed and debated in Congress as there are several proposals for how the program should be operated.
Those opposed to the Civilian Climate Corps say its primary purpose is to wage war on American soil against those in the energy industry.
Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, whose state is the leading coal producer in the nation, wrote a column on Fox News discussing precisely that and why he doesn't support the group.
"The Democrats want to have American taxpayers pay young people to fight against the abundant and affordable fuels that the American economy depends upon," Barrasso said.
Soon after taking office, Biden signed an executive order implementing the program, however, he still needs the funding to be approved in Congress before it can take off.
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