Is AOC’s Green New Deal a boon to big business?
Senate Democrats will have to tell America where they stand on the Green New Deal as early as next week, when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) brings it up for a vote.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) introduced the controversial resolution two weeks ago. It includes universal health care, a jobs guarantee, a transition to 100% renewable energy by 2030, and many other progressive policy proposals.
Tim Carney, Washington Examiner commentary editor, said the climate change plan awards big business.
“It’s a total recipe for cronies," he said during an interview on FOX Business' "Kennedy" on Thursday. "When Washington grabs power, the ship is being driven by the lobbyists. It would be the biggest corporate giveaway if [Ocasio-Cortez] got this through.”
Several 2020 democratic presidential contenders, including Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) have all endorsed the plan.
But not all democrats are sold. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), the number two democrat in the Senate, said he asked co-sponsor Sen. Markey after reading it, “what in the heck is this?”
Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) chuckled when asked if he’d vote for it and told The Hill, “probably not.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) referred to it as “the green dream, or whatever they call it.”
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On the other side of the aisle, Republicans are looking at the plan with a mix of criticism and mockery. Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel called it “a massive taxpayer boondoggle and a socialist dream come true.” President Trump said the plan “sounds like a high school term paper that got a low mark.”
But President Trump has long expressed skepticism about climate change, and even democrats who are skeptical of the plan said the vote will at least force Republicans like McConnell to put forward their position on global warming.