Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez released details on her “Green New Deal” plan, environmental legislation the freshman congresswoman says will lead to a “sustainable environment for all for generations to come” while also “repairing historic oppression.”
“Next week, we plan to release a resolution that outlines the scope and scale of the Green New Deal,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a letter to fellow Democrats. “In it, we call for a national, social, industrial and economic mobilization at a scale not seen since World War II.”
The letter from the self-described Democratic Socialist from New York outlines the goals of the plan, which include reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions “through a fair and just transition for all communities and workers” that will supposedly create millions of “good, high-wage jobs.”
It also calls for clean air and water, climate resiliency, healthy food and access to nature through a 10-year plan of industrial and infrastructure projects.
Ocasio-Cortez has floated a 70 percent tax rate on people making more than $10 million to pay for the plan, which could cost as much as $7 trillion by some estimates.
Per Bloomberg:
So far the Green New Deal has drawn the support of more than 40 progressive lawmakers as well as Democratic 2020 presidential candidates, but has yet to elicit full-throat support from Democratic moderates including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. While the Green New Deal would certainly never pass muster with coal-state Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and President Donald Trump, some of the plan’s backers believe it’s important to show it has the blessing of the House Democrats in advance of the 2020 presidential elections.
Conservative lawmakers have seized on the plan as a product of out-of-touch liberals, with some price estimates ranging as high as $7 trillion.
“Americans deserve better than to foot the bill for the Green New Deal’s reckless, expensive, and unattainable goals,” said Oklahoma Republican Representative Markwayne Mullin. “The Green New Deal, just like proposals for free college or Medicaid for All, is nothing but an empty promise that leaves American taxpayers on the hook.”
The House resolution has nine co-sponsors and climate champion Democratic Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts will introduce companion legislation in the Senate, according to the letter.
Markey issued a statement Monday saying he has invited Varshini Prakash, co-founder of Sunrise, a group that supports the Green New Deal, as his guest to the State of the Union on Tuesday.
