Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said in an interview published Wednesday the Green New Deal “goes beyond what our charge is” on climate change and has an agenda that is “not what we hope to achieve.”
Liberal magazine Rolling Stone asked Pelosi, a longtime advocate for action on climate change, about the resolution put forward by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D., Mass.).
It seeks a dramatic overhaul of the U.S. economy and energy systems, along with a laundry list of progressive agenda items like guaranteed income and universal health care.
“Now, in terms of the Green New Deal [as conceived], that goes beyond what our charge is. Our charge is about saving the planet,” Pelosi said. “They have in there things like single-payer and … what is it? Guaranteed income?”
Her chief of staff Drew Hammill chimed in, “Guaranteed income, and then a jobs guarantee.”
“And then they have, I don’t know if it’s single-payer or Medicare for All,” Pelosi said. “It’s kind of, like, a broader agenda. All good values, but nonetheless, not what we hope to achieve with this focused, determined, decision-making: You’re either for the planet or you are not. There is no ‘plan B’ for the planet. We have to preserve it, and it is in great jeopardy.”
Pelosi earlier this month praised the “enthusiasm” behind the resolution.
The Green New Deal has come under fire, even from some on the left, as being far too expensive and unrealistic to consider as serious policy. A new study says it could cost as much as $94 trillion to implement over the next 10 years.
Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D., Ill.) said he told Markey “what in the heck is this” when he first read the resolution.
Former Obama Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz said the timeline of the resolution was “just impractical.”
Ocasio-Cortez has lashed out at critics of the resolution, saying that at least she’s trying to address the issue and until then, “I’m the boss, how about that?”
Read more at Free Beacon
I see it a bit differently. The Green New Deal is too much a longterm-agenda regulated-economy wishlist, a utopian vision. Democrats in office are not supposed to brazenly expose such ultimate goals, just like Republicans are not supposed to describe utopian visions of a moralistic christian theocracy. It only appeals to the half of their followers and few nonaffiliateds. It’s dystopian to most people. That’s why it’s such an embarrassment that even far-end stalwarts are trying to talk their way out of it.
I’m more worried that there’s more AO-C’s out there. We have one in Justin Trudeau. They’re everywhere. The GND is not just one psycho’s Utopian dream. Bin Laden had a dream, too. Hell on Earth.
Agreed David Lewis . polarization and destabilization are increasing risks .
What will set off the next civil war ,who knows but it feels like it’s coming fast . Hollywood and the political class better not shut down the airline industry before they fly off to their bunkers in New Zealand .
Republicans keep absorbing punches but soon or later they are going to
push back .
Nancy Pelosi has always been an extreme liberal including the issue the of anthropological climate change. Now the Green New Deal has come along and is even more radical. The fact that so many Democrats in the House support it shows a shift in the party. This also shows increased polarization in our country. This is when more and more people are on the extremes and fewer in the center of an issue. This is happening in other issues than climate change and runs the risks of causing destabilization.
Nancy better watch what she says . Can’t afford to make bag man Tom go all red .
OK so now AOC thinks she is the boss of climate change and to achieve her goals she invites women to stop having children .
The Green Deal hatched over a weekend by eco-anarchists sounds an awful
lot like a communist dream to completely destroy the USA .
Good luck with that Sweet Chicken Face. Even Steyer might gag on that,
on the other hand maybe he was one of the architects .
Climate change has always been a wedge issue. It wasn’t supposed to split the Left.