Former Attorney General Eric Holder hailed the “Green New Deal” resolution as “our generation’s moonshot” during a visit to Iowa on Tuesday, weeks before he is expected to reveal whether he will run for president in 2020.
Addressing reporters in Des Moines, Holder said he will prioritize the issues of climate change, economic inequality, and voting rights, among others, should he decide to run.
In particular, he voiced support for the proposed “Green New Deal” resolution, which outlines a 10-year plan to reduce carbon emissions and replace fossil fuel with renewable energy. It also calls for “meeting 100 percent of the power demand in the United States through clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources.”
“This is our generation’s moonshot,” Holder said, according to the Des Moines Register. “President Kennedy said we dared to go to the moon and do the hard things not because they’re easy but because they’re hard. This will be hard. This will cause dislocation, but the fate of the planet is at stake.”
Holder, however, dismissed another liberal idea being tossed around by 2020 Democratic candidates, including Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.: eliminating private health insurance for government-financed healthcare.
“I would not want to take out of the system the notion of voluntariness and the notion of private plans if that’s what people want to do, but I’d really want to focus on that whole question of that goal of universal healthcare,” he said.
Holder visited students at Drake University’s Law School and participated in a discussion with former Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Marsha Ternus hosted by the Harkin Institute for Public Policy & Citizen Engagement during his trip to Iowa.
“I’m concerned about the direction of the country,” Holder told reporters in Des Moines. “I think I’ve got some ideas and visions that I think would be useful to the nation.”
