SHOP
Watch LIVE
Several Democrats running for president in 2020 have signed on to a proposal called the "Green New Deal," crafted to emulate FDR's New Deal yet with sweeping environmental reforms.
What are the details?
The proclamation was introduced by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Thursday, backed by dozens of legislators endorsing the endeavor. While it has only been introduced as a resolution, a summary of the plan explained that the goal is for the U.S. to become carbon-neutral within a decade, eradicating all fossil fuels — including emissions from airplanes and "cow farts" — retrofitting or replacing all buildings and providing union jobs for any Americans "unwilling" to work.
Critics slammed the plan after it was introduced on Thursday, with The Wall Street Journal columnist Kimberly Strassel saying that after she read the proposal she "was laughing so hard (she) nearly cried." The summary of the Green New Deal was removed from Rep. Ocasio-Cortez' congressional website that evening.
1) By the end of the Green New Deal resolution (and accompanying fact sheet) I was laughing so hard I nearly cried.… https://t.co/B4OebdvQwO— Kimberley Strassel (@Kimberley Strassel) 1549580258.0
Nonetheless, Democratic candidates for president in 2020 are hitching their wagons to the bold plan, and endorsing it as a platform of their campaigns.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) boasted of signing on to the resolution, and sold it to an audience while likening the initiative to America fighting against Nazi Germany in World War II.
THIS IS INSANE: Cory Booker compares signing on to the Green New Deal to going to the moon and saving the earth fr… https://t.co/SrPjKaw0KT— Caleb Hull (@Caleb Hull) 1549649249.0
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) told Twitter she was "proud to co-sponsor" the plan.
I’m proud to co-sponsor @AOC and @EdMarkey's Green New Deal. We must aggressively tackle climate change which poses… https://t.co/JCnEio1JYC— Kamala Harris (@Kamala Harris) 1549563120.0
Calling climate change "the biggest threat of our lifetime," Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) also proudly co-sponsored the resolution.
A #GreenNewDeal is ambitious. It's bold. And I’m cosponsoring this resolution with @aoc and @senmarkey because it’s… https://t.co/TR1Al96BYv— Kirsten Gillibrand (@Kirsten Gillibrand) 1549563437.0
2020 contender Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) bragged of signing on to the plan, tweeting that she endorsed the resolution "to fight for our planet and our kids' futures."
If we want to live in a world with clean air and water, we have to take real action to combat climate change now. I… https://t.co/Qa3iDU1Ec9— Elizabeth Warren (@Elizabeth Warren) 1549555157.0
Anything else?
Republican strategists are calling the Democratic endorsements a gift. Sarah Dolan, executive director of right-wing PAC America Rising told Fox News, "All of these policy litmus tests that are being applied to the 2020 field are a goldmine for us. They're all falling over each other to be the first to sign on to them, to be supportive. And it's just exemplifying the race to the left."
