I would suggest that a Green Real Deal is something to be far more excited about than the Green New Deal because the Green New Deal will never happen.
The privatization plan weakens Social Security and threatens our economic security by creating trillions of dollars in new debt.
Our long-term economic plan is all about creating jobs and the economic security that comes with that.
We need a Green New Deal for Public Housing, as my colleague and friend Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez has proposed. We need a Green New Deal for Cities, as my friend Cori Bush has proposed. And we need a Green New Deal for Public Schools.
We call for a green New Deal, like the New Deal that got us out of the Great Depression, but in this case focusing on green jobs to create 100% clean renewable energy by 2030, which is exactly what the science calls for.
In terms of the Green New Deal, I support the urgency and the end goal of the Green New Deal. I would look to work with our climatologists, economists to propose my own plan and how we would meet those goals.
The country that owns green, that dominates that industry, is going to have the most energy security, national security, economic security, competitive companies, healthy population and, most of all, global respect.
The Green New Deal is for elitists who live in their high rises in New York City and see a dirty world around them because they're in New York City. I said New York City can pass a Green New Deal... Why not try it? Why not try it?
To me, what's really important about the Green New Deal isn't, like, one of the elements of it: it's the concept. It's the concept that we have a national emergency commensurate with a depression or a war. And then the second part of it, the concept that, in rising to meet that challenge, there's a ton of economic opportunity.
Some will criticize the Green New Deal for being too bold or being unmanageable. I tell you what, I haven't seen anything better that addresses this singular crisis we face, a crisis that could, at its worst, lead to extinction. The Green New Deal does that. It ties it to the economy and acknowledges that all of the things are interconnected.
I believe in the Green New Deal. Fundamentally, what we recognize is that we don't have to choose between protecting our planet and growing our economy and creating jobs and opportunity.
It is common talk that every individual is entitled to economic security. The only animals and birds I know that have economic security are those that have been domesticated--and the economic security they have is controlled by the barbed-wire fence, the butcher's knife and the desire of others. They are milked, skinned, egged or eaten up by their protectors.
Our top plank really is a Green New Deal to transform our economy to a green economy, 100 percent wind, water and sun by the year 2030 - we can do it; this is an emergency, and we must do it - but to use that as an opportunity to put America back to work, to renew our infrastructure, and to basically assure that everyone has a job.
Having presidential candidates say they are supportive of the concept of doing something like the Green New Deal is amazing, but it's not sufficient.
That's in part what the Green New Deal is designed to do. So it's not only to address the climate emergency, but also to address the economic emergency, because the recovery has really gone to the top.
In my view, the state should be active and work in cooperation with private businesses to spur growth that's sustainable and inclusive. The policy process is about co-creating and co-shaping of markets, creating new opportunities for business investment - and negotiating a better deal for the public too.