More and more Democrats are committing to supporting a sweeping, historic green effort that would transform the U.S. economy in an effort to fight climate change, in the latest indicator that environmental issues will be a dominant force in 2019.
As of Wednesday morning, the Sunrise Movement, a climate group led by young people, said at least 15 Democrats are willing to sign onto supporting the formation of a select committee to create a “Green New Deal” endorsed by Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). The most recent supporter, Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME), voiced her support with a statement on Tuesday. Pingree’s not alone. Other senior party members have since the midterms voiced their support for urgent climate action. Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) quickly gave a Green New Deal his support the week before Thanksgiving, handing activists a major win. In the time since, the list of backers has grown — Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) endorsed the proposal on Monday, shortly before Pingree gave her support.
In addition to those lawmakers, Democratic Reps. Ro Khanna (CA), Carolyn Maloney (NY), Jared Huffman (CA), Jose Serrano (NY), Ted Lieu (CA), and Earl Blumenauer (OR) have all voiced support, as have Reps.-elect Deb Haaland (NM), Ayanna Pressley (MA), Rashida Tlaib (MI), Ilhan Omar (MN), and Joe Neguse (CO).
Increasingly, the Green New Deal is becoming a litmus test for Democrats grappling with a massive shift in the party. A draft resolution of what a blueprint for the deal might look like
has already circulated.
Proposed by Ocasio-Cortez, the Sunrise Movement, and the left-wing
political action committee Justice Democrats, the draft establishes a
select committee with the authority to create a “detailed national,
industrial, economic mobilization plan” allowing the United States to
swiftly become carbon-neutral...
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3 comments:
Once you let the ecofreaks to take over........you are toast.
It is all about votes! Nothing else sells like votes in BOTH the senate and the house. Then there is the veto. So all the talk from some neophyte house rep turning over the economy is just that.....talk and nothing more.
Many years ago a book, the Electoral Connection, stated that the main goal of a member of congress is to get re-elected which leads them to engage in three behaviors, advertising (general opportunities for name recognition like being in the parade), credit claiming (the reason we let Members announce projects in their district, whether or not they had anything to do with it) and position taking (taking a position that reinforces an issue that a constituent finds important, whether or not that is the member's position). Introducing legislation (thousands of bills per year)is the ultimate vehicle for position taking. it costs the member almost nothing, they get to put out press releases and make a televised statement from the floor, and then it goes to committee where it dies, enabling the member to state "I introduced a bill to do x-y-z, they killed it you need to send me back to keep up the fight" It allow the individual member to run against the institution to which they desperately want to be part of.
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