Climate-Concerned 2020 Democrats Spending Hundreds of Thousands on Private Air Travel

A Dassault Falcon 8X jet flies during the inauguration of the 53rd International Paris Air Show at Le Bourget Airport near Paris, France, on June 17, 2019. (Photo by BENOIT TESSIER / AFP) (Photo credit should read BENOIT TESSIER/AFP/Getty Images)
BENOIT TESSIER/AFP/Getty Images
Hannah Bleau

Several 2020 Democrats have spent tens of thousands of dollars on private air travel, calling their concerns over climate change into question.

Joe Biden (D) has been under fire in recent days after it was reported that his campaign dropped short of $1 million –  $924,000  – on private jet usage in the third quarter (July 1 – September 30) alone. The expenses were attributed to the EJCR, LLC Dba Advanced Aviation Team, recent Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings show.

While Biden leads the pack, he is not alone in his exorbitant private air travel expenditures. Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D) reportedly spent just short of $500,000 – $479,000 –  on private air travel. That is a $179,000 increase from his private air travel expenses in the previous quarter, according to the Hill.

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) also put her climate change-related concerns aside, spending $253,000– $236,000 more than the $17,000 she spent in the previous three months.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) – who once described climate change as the “greatest threat to our national security” – spent $360,000 on private air travel in the third quarter. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) – who described climate change as an “existential crisis that threatens all of us” – also utilized private air travel, spending $132,000 in the third quarter. However, a campaign aide told the Hill that Warren makes an effort to offset her carbon output and gave $10,150 to Native Energy in the third quarter.

An outline of the Democrat-backed Green New Deal, released this year, lamented the existence of cows and air travel but admitted that neither could be totally eliminated.

The outline stated:

We set a goal to get to net-zero, rather than zero emissions, in 10 years because we aren’t sure that we’ll be able to fully get rid of farting cows and airplanes that fast, but we think we can ramp up renewable manufacturing and power production, retrofit every building in America, build the smart grid, overhaul transportation and agriculture, plant lots of trees and restore our ecosystem to get to net-zero.

The excessive air travel of the candidates calls their authenticity into question.

Warren has called climate change an “existential crisis that threatens all of us” and called for “bold action now to stop it before it’s too late”:

Biden – who spent nearly $1 million on private jet usage in a three-month span – warned that it is going to take “leadership” to combat the “climate crisis”:

Harris has called climate change an “imminent threat to our planet,” while Buttigieg warned that the threat “isn’t theoretical”:

Sanders, who unveiled a $16 trillion climate change proposal in August, called President Trump an “idiot” for not taking climate change seriously:

Nevertheless, critics argue that Democrats are demonstrating that they are not taking the matter seriously, as their actions do not always coincide with their rhetoric.

For instance, Democrats came under fire last month after attending the Polk County Democrats Steak Fry, which featured thousands of steaks. While climate change alarmists argue that red meat consumption is contributing to the “crisis,” several Democrat candidates happily assisted in grilling the juicy cuts of meat, despite some of the presidential hopefuls previously floating limiting beef consumption in order to curb the looming threat:

What is more, their attendance came just one day after the “Global Climate Strike.”

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