Top House Republicans pressured House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Thursday to launch hearings on the ‘Green New Deal,’ arguing that the progressive plan must be debated and properly vetted.
“Taken together, we fear the Green New Deal would hurt Americans struggling to make ends meet — the very people it purports to help,” 11 Republicans representing key committees wrote in a letter to Pelosi. “Worst of all, it could permanently put the American Dream out of reach for millions of Americans.”
The Green New Deal was introduced as a broadly-worded resolution last month by freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and climate stalwart Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. It offered broad goals, like switching to zero emission energy by 2030, but provided little in the way of details on several of its other proposals, such as federal job guarantees, free college, and government-financed healthcare.
The lack of detail is one of the key reasons the Republicans want Pelosi to begin hearings on the plan, in order to flesh it out and debate its implications for the country.
“As the committees to which it has been referred, we have a responsibility to fully understand how the Green New Deal will affect the cost of living and economic mobility of hardworking Americans. We need to get to the facts, the American people deserve answers,” the letter added.
Republicans on the letter include Reps. Rob Bishop of Utah, the top Republican on the Natural Resources Committee, Greg Walden of Oregon, the top Republican on the Energy and Commerce Committee, Oversight and Reform Committee ranking member Jim Jordan of Ohio, and several others.
[Read more: Unions split with Democrats over ‘Green New Deal’]
