Yesterday, 57 senators sent a rebuke to Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her Green New Deal.
Not one Democratic senator voted in support of it. Forty-three voted “present” meaning that they didn’t have to actually register an opinion. (Three liberals joined conservatives in voting against it.)
Not even 2020 candidates, who claim to support the Green New Deal while on the campaign, trail refused to vote in support.
There are very good reasons why even members of Congress on the left are running from taking a stand on the bill. The Green New Deal carries an astronomically high pricetag that requires raising significant taxes on American households.
The deal would also cut over a million jobs, raise energy costs for families, undermine our free-market system, remove choice for the goods and services we want, discourage people from working, take us back in time in transportation, and leave us with a bleak future.
One estimate pegs the cost of this ambitious plan at up to $93,000,000,000,000.
Other economists project this plan would cause:
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A loss of over 1.4 million jobs.
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A loss income for American families of more than $40,000 for a family of four.
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An aggregate loss in gross domestic product of over $3.9 trillion.
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12 to 14 percent increases in household electricity spending on average.
The plan guarantees every American a check regardless of whether they can or want to work. Ironically, the FAQ document in which AOC makes that offer has since been deleted, but there’s no hiding the fact that while policymakers like her are embracing universal basic income, other countries are abandoning it.
The Green New Deal recommends getting rid of air travel and planes in favor of train travel. Why not just go all the way and return to horse-and-buggies?
Liberal lawmakers can’t escape that this is a dangerous plan for our nation and that’s why they don’t want to go on record in support of it. Yet, they feel the need to pay lip service to embracing the big ideas included in it.
AOC is defending her plan against claims of being elitist. She has even turned to fear mongering-claiming that by not taking her plan seriously, conservatives are killing people. No really. She tweeted:
@AOC: The GOP’s climate delaying is costing us lives + destroying communities.
Iowa, Nebraska & many in the Midwest are catastrophically flooded right now, in one of the 1st major climate change disasters of 2019.
A #GreenNewDeal urges us to pursue a plan on the scale of the problem.
The Green New Deal won’t go anywhere politically, but its promises and payfors won’t be disappearing from public discourse any time soon either.
It’s important that we continue to remind Americans why this would hurt our economy, our budgets, our workforce, and our future while putting forward ideas that actual improve people’s lives and our nation.