Tag: Green New Deal

Cory Booker Compares Green New Deal to Fighting Nazi Germany

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by Chris White   Democratic Sen. Cory Booker appeared to compare adopting the so-called Green New Deal with fighting the Nazi regime. “Our planet is in peril, and we need to be bold,” Booker said at a Friday campaign event in Iowa. There are a lot of people who are critical of the deal. Critics claim “it’s too impractical, and it’s too expensive.” “And when the planet has been in peril in the past, who came forward to save Earth … from the scourge of Nazis and totalitarian regimes?” Booker asked rhetorically. “We came forward.” “We came forward with the Marshal Plan,” he added, referring to a U.S. program concocted during the 1940s to rebuild parts of German and other European countries bombed out during World War II. The GND, which was introduced Thursday by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, calls for a “10-year national mobilizations” toward a series of goals aimed at fighting global warming. A separate fact sheet published online claims the plan would “mobilize every aspect of American society on a scale not seen since World War 2.” Ocasio-Cortez’s original concept received support from Booker and other potential presidential candidates. The updated version, however, which was rolled out Thursday…

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Klobuchar and McCollum Back Green New Deal, But Omar’s Missing from List of Sponsors

Anthony Gockowski

Two of Minnesota’s most prominent politicians, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN-04), are backing the controversial Green New Deal, but Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) is conspicuously missing from the list of House sponsors. The House version of the resolution currently has 67 co-sponsors, including McCollum, who has received $52,733 in campaign contributions from environmental groups over the course of her career, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Klobuchar, who is expected to declare candidacy for president Sunday, is one of 10 co-sponsors of the Senate resolution, which has the backing of other presidential hopefuls, such as Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Cory Booker (D-NJ). The Center for Responsive Politics estimates that Klobuchar has received $220,463 from environmental groups throughout her career. Omar is a public ally of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14), the resolution’s chief author, and was an early advocate of the Green New Deal. Omar, however, currently isn’t listed as a co-sponsor of the resolution. She addressed her support of the Green New Deal in a statement Thursday, but seemed to take issue with the fact that it is just a resolution rather than actual legislation. “We need to…

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Steve Cohen a Cosponsor of Green New Deal

Chris Butler

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, not only endorses the controversial Green New Deal resolution — he’s co-sponsoring it. In a press release, Cohen said the New Deal of the 1930s that supposedly ended the Great Depression inspired Democratic lawmakers to propose the Green New Deal. “It contains a full employment initiative; investments in a transition to sustainable, non-carbon sources of energy; elimination of greenhouse gas emissions; and a commitment to addressing climate change as the existential threat it is,” Cohen said. As The Tennessee Star reported last week, New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez released the resolution that’s become a central part of the Democratic agenda, including backing from 2020 candidates. The “Green New Deal” resolution calls for “10-year national mobilizations” towards a series of goals aimed at fighting global warming, according to a copy of the bill obtained by NPR. A separate fact-sheet claims the plan would “mobilize every aspect of American society on a scale not seen since World War 2.” That includes getting all our energy needs from “clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources” by “dramatically expanding and upgrading existing renewable power sources.” Ocasio-Cortez’s non-binding resolution calls for a variety of social justice and welfare state goals, including “a family-sustaining…

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Top EPA Official Leaves Government To Help Trump Fight ‘Venezuela-Style Socialism’

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by Michael Bastasch   Mandy Gunasekara served two years as a top Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) adviser, but now is leaving the government to be an advocate for President Donald Trump’s agenda. “There is a void out there of folks who can understand and have the pertinent experience to talk about the energy, environment and economic successes of the Trump administration,” Gunasekara told The Daily Caller News Foundation in an interview. “I was in the room when we were making these decisions and I know the why,” she added. Indeed, as the principal deputy assistant administrator to EPA’s air office, Gunasekara was “in the room” when the agency issued major rollbacks of Obama administration regulations, including the Clean Power Plan and fuel economy mandates. Gunasekara also worked with former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to convince Trump to stick to his campaign promise and withdraw from the Paris climate accord. She was one of the few political appointees in place at EPA in the early days of the administration, so she spent many nights putting together the legal and policy rationale for withdrawal. Trump announced withdrawal in June 2017. “It was just helping him make it happen as the president,” Gunasekara…

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Green New Deal Outline Released, Calls for ‘Repairing Historic Oppression’

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by Michael Bastasch   New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez released a resolution that outlines the “Green New Deal” that’s become a central part of the Democratic agenda, including backing from 2020 candidates. The “Green New Deal” resolution calls for “10-year national mobilizations” towards a series of goals aimed at fighting global warming, according to a copy of the bill obtained by NPR. A separate fact-sheet claims the plan would “mobilize every aspect of American society on a scale not seen since World War 2.” That includes getting all our energy needs from “clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources” by “dramatically expanding and upgrading existing renewable power sources.” Ocasio-Cortez’s non-binding resolution calls for a variety of social justice and welfare state goals, including “a family-sustaining wage, adequate family and medical leave, paid vacations and retirement security” and “high-quality health care” benefits for Americans. The resolution calls for “repairing historic oppression” among certain groups, including minorities, immigrants, women, low-income workers, indigenous people and youth collectively called “frontline and vulnerable communities.” The call to “promote justice and equity” among those groups is seen as one of the “Green New Deal’s” primary goals by its architects. The House resolution has more than 20 cosponsors,…

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Ilhan Omar Floats 90 Percent Tax Rate on America’s Wealthiest

Anthony Gockowski

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) recently floated the idea of taxing America’s wealthiest citizens up to 90 percent in an interview with Yahoo News. “So there are a few things that we could do. One of them is that we could increase the taxes that people are paying who are the extremely wealthy in our communities” Omar said. “Seventy percent, 80 percent, we’ve had it as high as 90 percent.” The comments came in the context of a discussion about Omar’s support for the Green New Deal, a progressive climate change proposal put forward by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY-14). The proposal would convert the U.S. economy entirely to renewable sources of energy in 12 years and establish a universal basic income. It would, of course, require radical tax hikes on America’s wealthiest. During a recent 60 Minutes interview, Ocasio-Cortez welcomed the “radical” label, telling host Anderson Cooper that “if that’s what radical means, [then] call me a radical.” “There’s an element where, yeah, people are going to have to start paying their fair share in taxes,” she said. “You know, you look at our tax rates back in the ‘60s, and when you have a progressive tax rate system, your…

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Green New Deal Was Drafted in a Single Weekend by a Group of Millennial Staffers and Activists

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by Michael Bastasch   New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s signature “Green New Deal” plan was drafted in a single weekend by a group of millennial staffers and environmental activists, according to the Democrat’s chief of staff. Draft legislative text for “Green New Deal” legislation “was written over a single December weekend by the staff of the freshman representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and three like-minded progressive groups,” reads an article published in The New Yorker Thursday. “We spent the weekend learning how to put laws together,” Saikat Chakrabarti, Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff, told The New Yorker. “We looked up how to write resolutions.” Young activists with the Sunrise Movement, Justice Democrats and the New Consensus joined Chakrabarti in drafting the text, according to The New Yorker. Chakrabarti formerly led the group Brand New Congress, which pushed for far-left candidates to run for office. Chakrabarti’s collaboration with environmentalists resulted in a Google doc, which lays out legislation to create a House committee to enact a “Green New Deal” — a grab bag of progressive policies aimed at global warming and all manner of social ills. The document not only calls for the U.S. to completely get off fossil fuels within 10 years, but…

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Group Behind Ocasio-Cortez’s ‘Green New Deal’ Wields Influence in Washington

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by Jason Hopkins   A recent profile identified several progressive institutions funding the Sunrise Movement, a nascent environmentalist organization that is quickly wielding influence in Washington, D.C. Founded in April 2017, the Sunrise Movement is a newcomer among the many green organizations that have already been established for generations. However, the youth-led climate group quickly garnered national attention and high-dollar donations from across the country. Between its 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) entities, the group was able to raise just shy of $1 million during 2018 — and members intend to raise $2.5 million in 2019. Despite growing attention from the media, it’s been difficult to pinpoint exactly who is funding the Sunrise Movement. The group is not legally required to disclose its donors. However, a recent report from Inside Philanthropy, an outlet focused on philanthropic groups and their big donors, sheds some light. The Rockefeller Fund, the Wallace Global Fund and the Winslow Foundation are core funders of Sunrise Movement. The three groups have continued to finance a large portion of Sunrise’s operations, with institutional funders making up 55 percent of the group’s 2018 budget. Thirty-five percent of its budget came from individual donors, and the rest came from non-profit partners.…

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EPA Climate Model Shows ‘Green New Deal’ Would Avert a ‘Barely Detectable’ Amount of Global Warming

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by Michael Bastasch   Democrats are increasingly lining up behind New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s call for a “Green New Deal,” but few, if any, have talked about its actual impact on global warming. Even if all the Green New Deal’s goals were achieved, it would have a negligible, and likely immeasurable, impact on projected global warming, according to climate model simulation provided by a libertarian think tank. “I seriously think the effect would — at best — be barely detectable in the climate record,” Patrick Michaels, a climatologist with the Cato Institute, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. Cato developed its own “Carbon Tax Temperature-Savings Calculator” to estimate the amount of warming that might be averted through reducing greenhouse gas emissions, like carbon dioxide. The carbon calculator is based on the so-called “MAGICC” climate model simulator, developed by the National Center for Atmospheric Research with funding from the Environmental Protection Agency. So, how much warming would a “Green New Deal” avert by the end of the century? Slightly under 0.14 degrees Celsius, according to Cato’s temperature calculator. “The year-to-year variation is very close to the total amount of warming that would be ‘saved’ by 2100, according to EPA’s own…

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Commentary: The ‘Green New Deal’ is a Trojan Horse for Socialism

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by Jarret Stepman   Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is ready to tax the rich to make her Green New Deal a reality. “People are going to have to start paying their fair share in taxes,” the recently elected New York Democrat told TV show “60 Minutes” in an interview set to air Sunday. Speaking of prior decades’ taxation rates in the country, Ocasio-Cortez added, “Once you get to the tippy tops, on your 10 millionth dollar, sometimes you see tax rates as high as 60 or 70 percent.” '60 MINUTES' SUNDAY: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggests taxes as high as 70% on the wealthiest to pay for a "Green New Deal." "If that's what radical means, call me a radical," @AOC tells @AndersonCooper. pic.twitter.com/fcw2YtdeSD — Steven Portnoy (@stevenportnoy) January 4, 2019 It shouldn’t be a surprise that the avowed “democratic socialist” went with the predictable “tax the rich” formula in order to pay for a massive government program to combat climate change. But it would hardly be good news for most Americans if Ocasio-Cortez got her way. In fact, such a scheme would mean that her constituents in New York City would pay a max income tax rate of 82.6 percent, as Americans…

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Ilhan Omar’s Daughter Leading Protest to Ask Walz for Executive Order on Climate Change

Anthony Gockowski

Rep.-elect Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN-05) daughter helped organize an upcoming rally at the Minnesota Capitol to urge the incoming governor to “issue an executive order limiting greenhouse gas emissions.” In a recent tweet, Isra Hirsi announced that “young people from across the state” will protest on January 9 to ask Gov.-elect Tim Walz (D-MN) to support their climate proposals and “demonstrate to us that protecting our futures will be a top priority for his admin.” On Jan 9th at 4pm inside the MN capitol, young people from across the state will ask Gov. @Tim_Walz to issue an executive order limiting greenhouse gas emissions, & demonstrate to us that protecting our futures will be a top priority for his admin. This event is 100% youth led! pic.twitter.com/tbHdJGWt0x — isra hirsi (@israhirsi) December 31, 2018 Hirsi, Omar’s daughter, claims that the “event is 100 percent youth led,” and is sponsored by the MN Can’t Wait climate-change organization, a self-described “movement of youth activists from all over Minnesota pushing for bold, necessary changes in our state to protect our futures from the climate crisis.” According to an event description for next week’s protest, student protesters will “be going to Gov. Walz’s office to send…

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Ocasio-Cortez Sees Global Warming as Way to Push Social and Racial Agenda

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by Michael Bastasch   Democratic Congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York said the “Green New Deal” plan she supports would be used to achieve liberal “economic, social and racial justice” goals along with fighting global warming. “We can use the transition to 100 percent energy as the vehicle to truly deliver and establish economic, social and racial justice in the United States of America,” Ocasio-Cortez said at a Tuesday panel discussion alongside Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and environmental activist Bill McKibben. The soon-to-be New York representative has spent her time in Washington, D.C. promoting a “Green New Deal” to transition the U.S. to 100 percent green energy. Ocasio-Cortez even joined protesters occupying House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s office in support of the plan. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest person elected to Congress, is calling for a climate change revolution alongside potential 2020 presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders pic.twitter.com/0oxh0g0etl — The Guardian (@guardian) December 5, 2018 Pelosi wants to bring global warming to the forefront when Democrats take control of the House in 2018, but Ocasio-Cortez, Sanders and a handful of other Democrats want to go even further. While light on details, proponents said the “Green New Deal” could create millions of jobs in…

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Ocasio-Cortez, Activists Occupy Nancy Pelosi’s Office And Demand A Green New Deal

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by Michael Bastash   A group of young environmental activists occupied House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s office with a list of demands, including one that Democrats support what they’re calling a “Green New Deal.” Activists began their “sit in” at Pelosi’s Capitol Hill office on Tuesday morning, wearing matching t-shirts and holding yellow signs with slogans such as, “We have twelve years. What’s your plan?” The sit in is part of the Sunrise Movement’s plan to create an “army of young people to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs,” according to the group’s Twitter bio. The group is demanding Democrats back their petition to rapidly “green” the economy to fight global warming. BREAKING: we’ve begun a sit in inside @NancyPelosi’s office because @HouseDemocrats have failed our generation time and time again. They offer us a death sentence. We demand a #GreenNewDeal. https://t.co/uSgzfQmLQu pic.twitter.com/eVM92i5hub — Sunrise Movement 🌅 (@sunrisemvmt) November 13, 2018 “How is @NancyPelosi going to respond to the young people occupying her office for a #GreenNewDeal right now?” Sunrise Movement tweeted on Tuesday. This summer, a GOP candidate called 18-year-old Rose #youngandnaive for demanding he refuse fossil fuel money. How is @NancyPelosi going to respond to…

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