Presidential hopeful Joe Biden wants to find a middle ground on climate change policy.
But Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the architect of the liberal Green New Deal, said there is no middle ground with climate denial and delay.
Calling the move a dealbreaker, the New York congresswoman tweeted Friday in response to a Reuters report that claimed Biden plans to introduce a more moderate climate change agenda. “Blaming ‘blue collar’ Americans as the main opponents to bold climate policy is gas lobbyist 101. We’re not going to solve the climate crisis w/ this lack of leadership. Our kids’ lives are at stake.”
This is a dealbreaker.
There is no “middle ground” w/ climate denial & delay.
Blaming “blue collar” Americans as the main opponents to bold climate policy is gas lobbyist 101.
We’re not going to solve the climate crisis w/ this lack of leadership. Our kids’ lives are at stake. https://t.co/KvrBmaJd75
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 10, 2019
Biden has not commented on the freshman congresswoman’s plan, which most of his Democratic rivals have been quick to endorse. The former vice president faced criticism from his fellow presidential hopefuls for not adopting a strong stance on the issue of climate change.
Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the two candidates Ocasio-Cortez said she was considering endorsing for president, have already endorsed the plan.
Sanders, who has been trailing Biden in early polls, tweeted almost the same statement as Ocasio-Cortez just hours before her, asserting that “there is no ‘middle ground’ when it comes to climate policy” and, “Fighting climate change must be our priority.”
Warren co-sponsored the bill and has said Americans “have no time to waste to address [climate change] head on.” Other Democratic hopefuls such as former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, have also signaled support for the deal.
The Green New Deal, which was introduced by Ocasio-Cortez in February, has been a litmus test for Democrats vying for the Oval Office and was sharply opposed by the Republican Party. President Trump has criticized the deal, saying it is “going nowhere,” and repeatedly implying that endorsing the plan would be to the detriment of Democrats.
Many policy analysts and economists have dismissed the program as preposterous, pointing to its $93 trillion cost, greater than the entire U.S. economy.
