New York Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Wednesday that the United States will need to spend vast amounts of money to solve climate change.
“I think we really need to get to $10 trillion to have a shot,” Ocasio-Cortez said, according to the Hill.
“I know it’s a ton. I don’t think anyone wants to spend that amount of money, it’s not a fun number to say, I’m not excited to say we need to spend $10 trillion on climate, but … it’s just the fact of the scenario,” she said.
.@AOC tells reporters US needs to spend $10 trillion — with a T — to combat climate change: “I think we really need to get to $10 trillion to, like, have a shot.”
Says she is knows that is politically unpopular. But “I just don’t think people understand how bad the problem is.”
— Sheryl Gay Stolberg (@SherylNYT) June 5, 2019
When it comes to the 2020 Democratic candidates who have come out with a plan to take on climate change, the freshman congresswoman said she likes that of Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts the most. Inslee has proposed to spend $5 trillion on the issue, with Warren proposing to spend $2 trillion.
“I think the entire field of climate plans still needs to be pushed,” she added. “I think it just needs to be pushed in terms of the scientific scale, that is scientifically supported in what we need to solve this problem.”
Ocasio-Cortez has pushed for a Green New Deal to address climate change, which failed to pass in the Senate. Democrats, who accused Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., of playing politics with climate change, voted “present” in protest.
