First-time Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been shaking things up in the Democratic Party. Part of a new coalition known as the Justice Democrats, she launched the Green New Deal with Senator Edward J. Markey. For months, the bill has been picking up steam in Congress, with its fair share of criticism coming from both Democrats and Republicans.
On the surface, the Green New Deal is a set of economic policies targeting climate change and addressing economic inequality. Taking inspiration from President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s historic New Deal, this Green New Deal is aimed at stimulating the economy while curbing the effects of climate change. Many of the plans laid out in this deal have been mentioned in Congress for several years. Recently, when the Sunrise Movement endorsed the House resolution, that the Green New Deal broke into the mainstream conversation.
This push for a Green New Deal also follows the publication of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) staggering report released last October about the rising greenhouse gas emissions. The team of scientists concluded that, if the world were to collectively work towards preventing global temperatures from rising more than 2.7 degrees by 2100, the world would avoid the worst of climate catastrophes. The bill acknowledges that the U.S. has made significant contributions to these rising greenhouse gas emissions, with a 20 percent increase in
2014, leading to deadly flooding, wildfires, hurricanes, declining life expectancy and costing billions of dollars in disaster relief and infrastructure repairs. The bill also points out decades of wealth inequality and how this affects millions of Americans today.
The goals of the New Deal are to create a “path to policy” as the Sunrise Movement notes in a statement. As a non-binding resolution, the bill itself doesn’t have the force of law, even if it is passed. It simply demonstrates that Congress has intentions to initiate change in the near future. This coalition aims to establish the United States as a global leader for fighting against climate change. In addition to the main focus of eliminating fossil fuel emissions, the plans laid out in the bill include creating millions of jobs for Americans, repairing infrastructure and ensuring that every American has access to clean water and healthy foods. It also includes a provision for protecting indigenous peoples, minorities of color, the disabled, immigrants and so on. Annual funding for each of these projects would be from Congressional spending, although the specifics on the costs are not laid out in the resolution.
So far, eighty-four representatives have co-sponsored the bill in the House, and eleven senators have co-sponsored the bill including 2020 democratic candidates Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Corey Booker, Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar. Whether the bill passes or fails, combating climate change is positioned to be one of the leading issues going into the next presidential election.
The full bill is posted online at sunrisemovement.org
