Green New Deal would address climate and jobs
WASHINGTON — Democrats including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York are calling for a Green New Deal intended to transform the U.S. economy to combat climate change and create thousands of jobs in renewable energy.
The freshman lawmaker is teaming up with veteran Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts on the plan, which aims to eliminate the U.S. carbon footprint by 2030.
At least five Democratic presidential hopefuls in the Senate — Kamala Harris of California, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont — co-sponsored the resolution.
Markey predicted more Democrats would sign on and said even some Republicans may back the plan.
“This is now a voting issue across the country,” he said. “The green generation has risen up and they are saying they want this issue solved” as one of the top two or three issues in the 2020 election, Markey said.
As outlined Thursday, the nonbinding resolution sets a goal to meet “100 percent of the power demand in the United States through clean, renewable and zero-emission energy sources,” including dramatic increases in wind and solar power.
While setting lofty goals, the plan does not explicitly call for eliminating the use of fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas, a nod to pragmatism that may disappoint some of OcasioCortez’s strongest supporters.
Even so, the Green New Deal goes far beyond the Clean Power Plan proposed by former President Barack Obama. President Trump has scrapped Obama’s plan, which imposed emissions limits on coal-fired power plants, as a job-killer.
The Democrats are likely to meet resistance to their proposal in Congress, especially in the Republican-controlled Senate. Trump, who has expressed doubts about climate change, also is likely to oppose it.
The announcement of the Green New Deal came as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tapped eight Democrats to serve on a special committee to address climate change. Ocasio-Cortez was not among those named to the panel, which is chaired by Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla. Ocasio-Cortez said Pelosi invited her to join the panel but she declined, saying she wants to focus on the Green New Deal and other committee assignments.
Pelosi said Thursday she hadn’t seen the Green New Deal proposal but welcomes “the enthusiasm” of its backers.