Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), a progressive proponent of fighting climate change and backer of the Green New Deal, said she encouraged Senate Democrats to vote “present” on the plan’s Senate resolution.
{mosads}When asked why so many Democrats in the upper chamber voted “present,” Ocasio-Cortez responded that she advised them to do so and slammed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for pushing a vote on the floor without a hearing in an attempt to put Democrats on the record about the proposal ahead of the 2020 elections.
“McConnell tried to rush the #GreenNewDeal straight to the floor without a hearing. The real question we should be asking: Why does the Senate GOP refuse to hold any major hearings on climate change?” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted Tuesday.
The Senate on Tuesday voted down the plan, which would seek to combat climate change by investing in eco-friendly jobs and transforming the economy into one solely reliant on renewable sources of energy. The upper chamber voted 0-57 on taking up the resolution.
Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Doug Jones (D-Ala.) and Angus King (I-Maine) voted with the Republicans against the measure, while the rest of the Democratic caucus voted “present.”
Republicans have seized on the initiative ahead of 2020 elections as a sign that the Democratic Party is drifting further to the left. Every Democratic senator running for the White House in 2020 has co-sponsored the Senate’s Green New Deal resolution, though the party is still split over the proposal’s cost and if its goals are realistic.
“The American people will see, they will see which of their senators can do the common sense thing and vote ‘no’ on this destructive socialist daydream. And they will see which senators are so fully committed to radical left-wing ideology that they can’t even vote no on self-inflicted economic ruin,” McConnell said.
Senate Democrats were quick to slam McConnell’s move as a stunt meant to expose divisions within the party.
“Today’s #GreenNewDeal vote is a partisan stunt to side-step needed debate on climate action, and give Republicans cover to put oil lobby checks over our kids. I’ve come to expect nothing less from [McConnell]. I’ll be voting ‘present.’ I don’t play ball with bad-faith farces,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), one of several Senate Democrats running for president, tweeted before the vote.
Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) introduced companion legislation for the Green New Deal in February.