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Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who announced
a sweeping "Green New Deal" on Thursday that promises to render
air travel obsolete, get rid of flatulent cows and ensure
economic security for everyone in less than a decade, seemingly
contradicted herself in a span of twelve hours on the nature of
the government's role in the massive undertaking.

NPR host Steve Inskeep asked Ocasio-Cortez Thursday morning
about concerns from conservatives that the 29-year-old former
bartender's proposal involves an unconstitutional government
overreach, as well as the unsustainable and dangerous
elimination of huge swaths of the American economy.

"One reason that people who are politically conservative are
skeptical of efforts to combat climate change is that it sounds
to them like it requires massive government intervention, which
they just don’t like," Inskeep asked. "Are you prepared to put
on that table that, 'Yes actually they’re right, what this
requires is massive government intervention?'"

Ocasio-Cortez responded: "It does, it does, yeah, I have no
problem saying that. Why? Because we have tried their approach
for 40 years. For 40 years we have tried to let the private
sector take care of this. They said, 'We got this, we can do
this, the forces of the market are going to force us to
innovate.' Except for the fact that there’s a little thing in
economics called externalities. And what that means is that a
corporation can dump pollution in the river and they don’t have
to pay, but taxpayers have to pay."

What will the Green New Deal cost Americans?

Climate Hawks Vote co-founder Brad Johnson and Texas Rep.
Michael Burgess on the cost of Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal.

But later in the day, in an interview with MSNBC's Chuck Todd,
Ocasio-Cortez blamed conservatives for suggesting that she
wanted a massive government program.

"I think one way that the right does try to mischaracterize, uh,
what we're doing as though it's, like, some kind of massive
government takeover," Ocasio-Cortez told Todd. "Obviously, it's
not that, because what we're trying to do is release the
investments from the federal government to mobilize those
resources across the country."

Ocasio-Cortez, who has warned that climate change may end the
world in 12 years, went on to decline to call herself a
capitalist.

"I don't say that," Ocasio-Cortez responded, when asked by Todd
if she considers herself a capitalist. "I believe in a
democratic economy, but -- but the but is there."

In what may be the most far-reaching proposal to ever be
considered in Congress, Ocasio-Cortez unveiled the "Green New
Deal" hours earlier -- a government-led overhaul of virtually
every aspect of American life that would guarantee a host of
taxpayer-covered benefits for all and phase out fossil fuels.

Embedded video

Morning Edition
?
@MorningEdition
.@nprinskeep asked Rep. @AOC, D-N.Y., if she is prepared to say
combating climate change requires massive government
intervention:

"It does. It does. Yeah, I have no problem saying that. Why?
Because we have tried their approach for 40 years."
https://n.pr/2DYoFjW

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6:26 AM - Feb 7, 2019
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Along the way, her office says the plan would aim to make air
travel obsolete, upgrade or replace every building in America to
ensure energy efficiency and give economic security even to
those "unwilling" to work.

Embedded video

Ryan Saavedra
?
@RealSaavedra
AOC tonight: “One way the Right tries to mischaracterize what
we’re doing as though it’s like some kind of massive government takeover…obviously it’s not”

AOC this morning on if her plan requires "massive government
intervention": “It does...Yeah, I have no problem saying that”

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6:45 PM - Feb 7, 2019
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“Today is the day that we truly embark on a comprehensive agenda
of economic, social and racial justice in the United States of
America,” she said alongside Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and other
lawmakers outside the Capitol. “That’s what this agenda is all
about.”

The plan, which calls for a massive package of big-government
proposals including health care for all, quickly picked up the
backing of major 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls including
Sens. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and
Cory Booker, D-N.J. -- who all co-sponsored the resolution.

“Our history is a testimony to the achievement of what some
think is impossible — we must take bold action now,” Booker
tweeted.

Cows may be eliminated by the Green New Deal announced Thursday.

While the resolution itself would do very little because it is
non-binding, it is the first time the policy proposal has been
formally outlined in Congress. The resolution says “a new
national social, industrial and economic mobilization on a scale
not seen since World War II and the New Deal” is an opportunity
to tackle systemic injustices toward minority groups, create
millions of high-wage jobs and “provide unprecedented levels of
prosperity and economic security for all people of the United
States.”


Josh Jordan
?
@NumbersMuncher
If you're laughing at Trump for claiming that building a wall
will pay for itself (as you should), you'd better be rolling on
the floor laughing at Democrats claiming the #GreenNewDeal will
pay for itself to the point of asking what "will we do with our
new shared prosperity?" ??

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Its proposals include “net-zero greenhouse gas emissions through
a fair and just transition for all communities and workers;” job
creation; infrastructure investment; guarantees of clean water,
healthy food and sustainable environment; and a curiously
undefined “access to nature.”

December 10, 2018 - Washington, DC, United States - Protesters
seen holding placards during the Sunrise Movement protest inside
the office of US Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to advocate
that Democrats support the Green New Deal, at the US Capitol in
Washington, DC. (Credit Image: © Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images
via ZUMA Wire)
December 10, 2018 - Washington, DC, United States - Protesters
seen holding placards during the Sunrise Movement protest inside
the office of US Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to advocate
that Democrats support the Green New Deal, at the US Capitol in
Washington, DC. (Credit Image: © Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images
via ZUMA Wire) (Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images via ZUMA Wire)

Beyond those broad proposals, the plan and accompanying
documents from Ocasio-Cortez include a range of far-fetched
goals -- and drew swift scorn from Republicans and other
critics. The Republican National Committee dubbed it a
"socialist wish list" that would kill at least 1 million jobs
and disrupt global trade -- while costing trillions.


Cory Booker
?
@CoryBooker
Excited to join @AOC & @SenMarkey on a historic #GreenNewDeal
resolution to address the peril of climate change and worsening
inequality. Our history is a testimony to the achievement of
what some think is impossible — we must take bold action now.

3,289
11:25 AM - Feb 7, 2019
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The resolution, for instance, includes a proposal to “upgrade
all existing buildings” in the country in order to achieve
energy efficiency, safety, affordability, durability and comfort.

An accompanying FAQ, released by Ocasio-Cortez’s office and
first obtained by NPR, goes even further, calling to "upgrade or
replace every building in the US for state-of-the-art energy
efficiency." A second similar FAQ on her website echoed some of
those prescriptions though was later removed.

The resolution also backs the concept of high-speed rail as a
proposal to reduce carbon emissions -- but the FAQ goes so far
as to urge that development “at a scale where air travel stops
becoming necessary.”

It also promises “economic security for all who are unable or
unwilling to work.”

What constitutes economic security is not clear, but the plan
does call for programs including a federal job guarantee,
universal health care and "affordable, safe, and adequate
housing."

The FAQ also notes that it has set a goal of net-zero, rather
than zero, emissions in 10 years “because we aren’t sure that
we’ll be able to get rid of farting cows and airplanes that
fast.”


Kimberley Strassel
?
@KimStrassel
1) By the end of the Green New Deal resolution (and
accompanying fact sheet) I was laughing so hard I nearly cried.
If a bunch of GOPers plotted to forge a fake Democratic bill
showing how bonkers the party is, they could not have done a
better job. It is beautiful. #GreenNewDeal

40.7K
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As for how to pay for the Green New Deal?

"The same way we paid for the New Deal, the 2008 bank bailout
and extended quantitative easing programs," Ocasio-Cortez's FAQ
states. "The same way we paid for World War II and all our
current wars. The Federal Reserve can extend credit to power
these projects and investments and new public banks can be
created to extend credit."

The FAQ continues: "There is also space for the government to
take an equity stake in projects to get a return on investment.
At the end of the day, this is an investment in our economy that
should grow our wealth as a nation, so the question isn’t how
will we pay for it, but what will we do with our new shared
prosperity."

However, the push is likely to see resistance not only from
Republicans but even some Democrats. Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-
Hawaii, was asked about the plan to replace planes with high-
speed rail and did not seem impressed.

“That would be pretty hard for Hawaii,” she laughed.

On Wednesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared to dismiss the
plan.

“It will be one of several or maybe many suggestions that we
receive,” Pelosi told Politico on Wednesday. “The green dream or
whatever they call it, nobody knows what it is, but they’re for
it right?”

Even aside from the Green New Deal, conservative commentators
have argued that most proposed solutions to global warming would
do more harm than good, and also have accused climate activists
of crying wolf. In 2006, a NASA scientist and leading global
warming researcher declared that the world had only 10 years to
avert a climate catastrophe -- a deadline that has come and gone.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ocasio-cortez-hours-after- introducing-green-new-deal-contradicts-herself-on-governments-
role
 

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