Sanders: ‘Damn right we will’ have a job for every American

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) defended his calls for a universal jobs guarantee during Tuesday’s Democratic primary debate, telling viewers that a Green New Deal he has advocated would create millions of jobs for Americans looking for work.

Questioned whether he was sure that the federal government could adequately provide jobs for all adults in the workforce, Sanders replied, “Damn right we will.”

{mosads}“Damn right, we will,” Sanders responded. “A Green New Deal that I have advocated for, will create 20 million new jobs as we move from fossil fuels to sustainability.”

We will guarantee every American a job through a #GreenNewDeal.

There are so many Americans in need of good work, and there is so much good work to be done to stop the climate crisis.

Thank you @BernieSanders for leading the way. pic.twitter.com/lXIPqP9vBp

— Sunrise Movement (@sunrisemvmt) October 15, 2019

Sanders is one of several contenders in the 2020 primary field who have endorsed a framework unveiled by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), dubbed the Green New Deal.

Green New Deal intends to rapidly shift America’s energy grid to sustainable forms of energy, while simultaneously upgrading U.S. infrastructure and implementing energy-efficient improvements to the U.S. transportation grid.

The plan, announced earlier this year, also included a federal jobs guarantee, which has drawn fire from Sanders’s fellow 2020 contender Andrew Yang, a supporter of a universal basic income (UBI).

Yang criticized Sanders’s plan again Tuesday night, claiming that it did not take into account people like his wife, a stay-at-home mother who tends to the couple’s sons, one of whom is autistic.