In picking John Kerry as his cabinet-level “climate czar,” Joe Biden is signaling strong support for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s costly Green New Deal.
Not only did Kerry and Ocasio-Cortez team to lead Biden’s campaign climate task force, but there are whispers in the environmental community that Ocasio-Cortez is being eyed for a position in the administration, maybe as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
During the campaign, Biden skirted around endorsing the Green New Deal, though much of his plan was similar. Since the election, environmentalists, including Ocasio-Cortez, have pushed for Biden to embrace her plan, created with Sen. Ed Markey.
The Kerry-Ocasio-Cortez axis was in full view in 2019 when Kerry strongly praised her efforts and endorsed her charge that “if we fail to act, or even if we delay in acting, we will have blood on our hands.”
During an April 2019 House Committee and Oversight Reform hearing, Kerry promoted efforts to curb the use of fossil fuels and pay for the change to renewable energy over time.
When a Republican committee member aired concerns about land loss to wind mills and other green projects included in the Green New Deal, Kerry unloaded and said that Republicans, including President Trump, have done nothing compared to the New York congresswoman.
Sec. John Kerry: “Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez has in fact offered more leadership in one day or in one week than President Trump has in his lifetime on [climate].”
Honored and humbled.
Thank you, @JohnKerry. https://t.co/Z2jPDMbuR1
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) April 9, 2019
“In proposing what she has proposed, together with Sen. Markey, Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez has, in fact, offered more leadership in one day or in one week than President Trump has in his lifetime on this subject,” said Kerry.
Minutes later, when it was her turn to ask questions, Kerry endorsed her view that lives are on the line if governments don’t make changes to reverse climate change.
She said, “So, I think what we have laid out here is a very clear moral problem, and in terms of leadership, if we fail to act, or even if we delay in acting, we will have blood on our hands. I do not know if you are allowed to agree with that, Secretary Kerry.”
He didn’t duck the question and responded, “So as long as we do nothing, Congresswoman, we are complicit in our acts of omission and commission of what we are doing to choose for our energy, et cetera. We are going to contribute to people dying. We are going to contribute to trillions of dollars of damage of property, and we will change the face of life on this planet.”
