U.S. Representative-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is demanding that the U.S. commit to shifting 100% of its energy consumption to renewable energy in ten years as part of a “Green New Deal” she is demanding party leaders support.
Politico reported Thursday that Ocasio-Cortez, the “democratic socialist” from New York’s 14th congressional district, is demanding that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi back her demand for 100% renewables as a price for support in the Democratic Party’s leadership struggle.
Politico’s Zack Colman and Anthony Andragna report:
Incoming liberals, led by Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, are demanding Pelosi go beyond her promise to revive a select committee on global warming; they want her and the rest of the Democratic Caucus to back an ambitious plan to transition the economy to 100 percent renewable energy in a little more than a decade.
But the party’s chairmen-in-waiting are pushing back on the idea that even a new select committee would be necessary, arguing that the existing Energy and Commerce, Natural Resources, Transportation and Science committees have the tools they need to address climate change.
The tension within the party comes as Pelosi is racing to secure the support she will need to claim the House speaker’s gavel when Democrats take the majority next year, and amid broader tension between moderate members worried about overreaching and progressives who see bold proposals as the key to the party’s future.
Ocasio-Cortez joined a sit-in at Pelosi’s office on Tuesday, warning Miami and New York could be “underwater.”
The goal of 100% renewable energy in 10 years goes far beyond the most ambitious proposals undertaken even in California, whose governor, Jerry Brown, is one of the most radical proponents of action to fight climate change.
Earlier this year, Brown signed a bill to move California to 100% renewable energy by 2045. It is not clear how California will make the transition; Ocasio-Cortez wants the entire country to do the same in a third of the time.
Pelosi thanked the protesters and defended her record on climate change.
Thank you, @NancyPelosi.
We have 10 years left to plan and implement a Green New Deal before cataclysmic climate disaster.
Reinstating the Select Committee is exactly what we need to do. https://t.co/Uy5BnrLZcR
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) November 13, 2018
She noted that she pushed a cap-and-trade bill through the House in 2009 that died in the Senate for lack of support from moderate Democratic senators.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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