Joni Ernst Calls out $93 Trillion Green New Deal as ‘Raw Deal’ for America

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) delivered a fiery speech on the Senate floor Wednesday as she derided the Green New Deal’s staggering $93 trillion cost.

Sen. Ernst joined over ten Republican senators to lambast Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) Green New Deal which was estimated to cost $93 trillion over the next ten years.

In Ernst’s remarks, the Iowa Republican noted how the plan would cost $10 trillion more than the combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of every nation on Earth and how it would also exceed the total spending of the U.S. government since the Constitution was ratified in 1789. Ernst labeled the Green New Deal as her March “Squeal Award” as a symbol of how the Green New Deal would waste money.

Ernst described the Green New Deal as a “raw deal for America, especially our rural communities.”

Republican senators from across the spectrum spoke on matter Wednesday.

Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Mike Braun (R-IN), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Roger Wicker (R-MS), John Boozman (R-AR), and John Barrasso (R-WY) spoke on the Senate floor.

Republican senators’ speeches on the Senate struck a nerve with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and other Democrats as they delivered their speeches on the Senate floor.

Sens. Brian (D-HI), Sheldon Whitehouse (R-RI), and Ed Markey (D-MA), the Senate sponsor of the Green New Deal, voiced frustration over the Republicans’ attack on the radical climate change proposal.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said that he will have a floor vote on the Green New Deal legislation, which would raise the question over how many Democrat senators would back the radical climate change bill.

Breitbart News reported how the Green New Deal would cost over four times the national debt and how the price tag would pay for over 3,700 border walls along the southern border.

Sen. Ernst noted how the radical climate change plan would force every American to pay tens of thousands of dollars every year–more than the average income of many Iowans.

“Just think about that number…93 trillion dollars. To fund this radical government takeover, every American family would have to pay $65,000 annually, more than most households in Iowa make in a year.”

Decrying the Green New Deal as a “creep of socialism into America,” Sen. Ernst said itl would eliminate many jobs for Americans in the energy sector.

“If you work in a part of the energy industry that’s fallen out of favor, your job has no place in the economy envisioned by the Democrats,” the Iowa senator said. “The Green New Deal states that one of its goals is to meet ‘100 percent of the power demand in the U.S. through clean, renewable, and zero emission energy sources.’”

Ernst concluded in her speech:

So, folks, we have a clear choice – we can continue to support rural America and pro-growth economic policies that boost our economy and create jobs, or we can allow socialist fantasies like the Green New Deal to creep in, take hold, bankrupt our nation, and devastate our rural communities.

Other senators from rural America joined in to lambast the Democrat proposal.

Sen. Kevin Cramer lambasted the plan in a Senate floor speech on Thursday. Cramer said:

You can imagine my disappointment, Mr. President, when I first read the contents of this joint resolution. The Green New Deal is not serious policy; it’s a fantasy. I’m personally so disappointed to see so many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle cosponsor this- especially those seeking higher office- and ignore these realities.

Sen. Chuck Grassley said on the Senate floor, “The authors are intent on reshaping every aspect of American life through a ‘national, social, industrial, and economic mobilization’ that is eerily reminiscent of the five year plans of the former Soviet Union or the ‘Great Leap Forward’ under Chairman Mao of China.”