The Senate turned away from the Green New Deal on Tuesday as members of both parties shunned an opportunity to debate a comprehensive climate change plan offered by Democrats, including freshman New York lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Republicans in the GOP-controlled Senate forced the vote as they seek to turn the Green New Deal into a wedge issue in the 2020 elections. Democrats called the GOP’s move a “sham” and said it carries its own political risk by mocking a hotly debated issue — climate change.
Majority of the Senators voted 57-0 against a procedural motion to take up the nonbinding resolution, which called for the U.S. to shift away from fossil fuels such as oil and coal and replace them with renewable sources such as wind and solar power.
In shifting the U.S. economy away from fossil fuels, the Green New Deal calls for virtual elimination by 2030 of greenhouse gas emissions responsible for global warming.
Republicans revealed the plan would devastate the economy and lead to a huge tax increase. They call it more evidence of the creep of “socialism” in the Democratic Party, along with “Medicare-for-All” and a sweeping elections reform package that would allow public financing of congressional campaigns.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky scheduled Tuesday’s vote, saying it would force Democrats to take a stand on a plan that “might sound like a neat idea in places like San Francisco or New York” but would result in communities across the country being “absolutely crushed.”
Later today, the American people will see which of their senators can do the common-sense thing and vote “no” on this destructive socialist daydream.
— Leader McConnell (@LeaderMcConnell) March 26, 2019
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