Travel back in time to 2019, when newly appointed economist/bartender Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) proposed an inflated, unsustainable, and completely unrealistic set of objectives to bankrupt states and citizens alike. Called The New Green Deal, the proposals included ridiculous zero carbon emissions deadlines and a focus on “environmental justice.” It attracted the usual overly enthusiastic progressives, including Marxist Bernie Sanders (I-VT), then-senator Kamala Harris (D-CA), famous “Native American” fraud Elizabeth Warren, and unrepentant “Viet Nam veteran” fabricator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT).
The disastrous plan went down in a carbon-emissions-fueled ball of fire several times, receiving a tepid response from the Senate. In March of 2019, 57 members voted against the proposal, zero voted in favor, and Democrats attempted to save face by voting “present.” The Green New Deal surfaced again in 2021 and was again derailed when the Senate unanimously agreed to a budget amendment to prohibit funding of any part of the proposal. In that vote, even Markey bailed on his sorority sister, Ocasio-Cortez, and voted to block his own plan.
With the passage of the bloated Inflation Reduction Act came a new iteration of the Green New Deal, however, and in April it raised its head once more.
“When we first introduced the Green New Deal, we were told that our vision for the future was too aspirational. Four years later, we see core tenets of the Green New Deal reflected in the Inflation Reduction Act — the largest ever federal investment in fighting climate change, with a focus on creating good, green jobs. But there is still much, much more to do to make environmental justice the center of U.S. climate policy. Today’s reintroduction marks the beginning of that process — of strengthening and broadening our coalition and of laying the policy groundwork for the next fight,” said Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez.
But there is more. Climate change and healthcare are at the center of the fight now, with Markey and Representative Ro Khanna (CA-17) introducing a bizarre connection between the inflated climate change crisis threat and the healthcare industry, aiming to provide sustainability while supporting patients, providers, and communities in the Green New Deal for Health.
The Green New Deal for Health will funnel $100 billion to hospitals for “climate resilience.” It also proposes a task force to create new emissions policies and climate risk disclosure for the FDA.
No more proof is needed regarding the lunacy of the Green New Deal than Warren’s support. “Four years after the introduction of the Green New Deal, the climate crisis is even more urgent: temperatures are still rising, storms are getting stronger, and flooding is becoming more frequent. The fight for environmental justice and a sustainable economy has never been more important, and I’m committed to working alongside Senator Markey and Representative Ocasio-Cortez to see it through.”
As far as Democratic proposals go, the Green New Deal is short. At only 14 pages, the legislation provides little detail about exactly how the proposal would accomplish its goals. The aim of the legislation is to eliminate fossil fuel extraction while pouring massive funding into green energy alternatives by 2030.
At an estimated cost of nearly $93 trillion, the legislation directs the U.S. to produce 100% of power from zero-emissions sources. It will direct the development of upgraded infrastructure and, of course, electric vehicles. Ultra-progressive organizations are lining up to support the proposal, including the Sierra Club, Wild Earth Guardians, Greenpeace, Sunrise Movement, and League of Conservation Voters.
The Green New Deal isn’t just one poorly articulate and unrealistic proposal. The term describes numerous pieces of legislation introduced by ideologues for years. The original Green New Deal was an FDR plan to battle the fallout from the Great Depression. At the time, it had nothing to do with climate change and everything to deal with sustaining the economy, increasing prosperity and security, and job creation.
Not only will the New Green Deal not make it through the Republican-led House, but in March conservatives also proposed its antithesis to battle the damages and undue burdens caused by the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. The House bill called the Lower Energy Costs Act, passed with the support of a few Democratic House representatives.
Following its passage in the House, McCarthy explained, “We just found that a majority of [Democrats] are so extreme that they would rather stand with China and Russia than with the American energy worker,” McCarthy went on to say, “I am not sure what’s controversial in the bill. I am not sure what’s controversial that you can speed the process up so you can make things in America.”
Unsurprisingly, President Joe Biden declared his opposition to the Lower Energy Costs Act and promised a veto if it hit his desk. Ironically, the price of the bill is a factor in his opposition. The bill proposes to eliminate a new tax on methane pollution while repealing $27 billion in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund along with several other parts of the costly Inflation Reduction Act.
The Green New Deal faces defeat, once again, at the hands of the Republican-led House, but its re-emergence proves that dumb ideas never really die.
