January 6, 2021
Democrats will control the entire executive branch for the first time since 2011 as Georgia sends two Democratic senators to Congress. The last time this happened, Barack Obama was entering the White House in 2009, backed by commanding Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress.
What followed was a stimulus bill that transformed the US economy in ways that accelerated the clean-energy transition faster than anyone imagined.
The $831 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act earmarked $90 billion for clean energy and climate-related programs. Its massive size, more than 10 times larger than previous clean energy bills, placed thousands of bets on energy efficiency, grid modernization, transportation, and renewable energy technologies across the country. “And it worked, unbelievably,” said Michael Grunwald, a journalist who wrote a book on the 2009 stimulus plan.