Green New Deal offered to address climate change
WASHINGTON — Democrats launched a sweeping plan Thursday to transform the U.S. economy to combat climate change and create thousands of jobs in renewable energy, signaling its likely elevation as a central campaign issue in 2020.
At least six senators running for president or considering White House bids co-sponsored the Green New Deal put forth by freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-cortez of New York and veteran Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts. The nonbinding resolution calls for a “10-year national mobilization” on the scale of the original New Deal to shift the economy away from fossil fuels and replace them with renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power.
It sets a goal to meet “100 percent of the power demand in the United States through clean, renewable and zero-emission energy sources,” including nuclear power.
“Our energy future will not be found in the dark of a mine but in the light of the sun,” Markey said at a news conference.
The plan goes far beyond energy to urge national healthcare coverage and job guarantees, as well as highquality education and affordable housing. The resolution urges elimination of fossil-fuels pollution and greenhouse-gas emissions “as much as technologically feasible” and calls for “upgrading all existing buildings in the United States” to be energy-efficient.
Markey predicted more Democrats would sign on as the plan gets better known and said some Republicans may back it.
“This is now a voting issue across the country,” Markey said. “The green generation has risen up, and they are saying they want this issue solved.”
The plan does not explicitly call for eliminating the use of fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas, a nod to pragmatism that may disappoint some of Ocasio-cortez’s supporters. But it goes far beyond the Clean Power Plan proposed by former President Barack Obama. President Donald Trump has scrapped Obama’s plan, which imposed emissions limits on coal-fired power plants, Ocasiocortez calling it a job-killer.
A price tag was not specified, but some Republicans predicted it would cost in the trillions of dollars and drive the economy off a cliff.
“The Green New Deal is a raw deal for the American taxpayer,” said Sen. John Barrasso, R-wyo., chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee.
Barrasso called the plan “a socialist manifesto that lays out a laundry list of government giveaways, including guaranteed food, housing, college and economic security even for those who refuse to work.”
Ocasio-cortez sees the plan’s scope is its strength, saying “small, incremental policy solutions are not enough” to repel climate change.
The measure is supported by at least six senators with their eyes on the White House: Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Kamala Harris of California, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi welcomed “the enthusiasm” of the plan’s backers but said a new House committee on climate change will “spearhead Democrats’ work” on climate issues.