Overnight Energy: Senate blocks Green New Deal | 43 Dems vote present | GOP senator criticizes deal with poster of Reagan riding a dinosaur | 2020 Dem hopeful Hickenlooper comes out against Green New Deal
Happy Tuesday and welcome to tonight’s edition of Overnight Energy, which we are dedicating to all news about the Green New Deal.
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SENATE BLOCKS GREEN NEW DEAL: The Senate on Tuesday blocked the Green New Deal, a progressive climate change resolution that Republicans view as prime fodder heading into the 2020 presidential election.
The Senate voted 0-57 on taking up the resolution, with 43 Democrats voting present. The measure was widely expected to fall short of the 60 votes needed to overcome the procedural hurdle.
{mosads}Most Democrats were expected to vote present, a move that allowed them to avoid taking a formal position. Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Doug Jones (D-Ala.) and Angus King (I-Maine) voted with Republicans against the measure.
Republicans have seized on the measure as an example of Democrats shifting to the left ahead of next year’s presidential election. Every Democratic senator running for the party’s nomination in 2020 has co-sponsored the Senate Green New Deal resolution.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) lashed out at the proposal ahead of the vote on Tuesday, calling it an item on the “far-left wish list that many of our Democratic colleagues have rushed to embrace.”
“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,” he said.
The resolution, introduced last month by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), strives for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in the United States while creating millions of “good, high-wage jobs.” It’s faced pushback from conservatives as well as some Democrats for being too broad and including wish list items not directly related to climate change, like expanding family farming and transitioning away from air travel.
Leading into Tuesday, Democrats accused McConnell of trying to set up a “gotcha” vote since no hearings were held on the fast-tracked legislation, which was widely expected to fail to get the 60 votes needed to ultimately pass the Senate.
Speaking at a rally Tuesday morning, Markey blasted Republicans for putting on a “sham vote.”
“They are calling a vote without hearings, without expert testimony, without any true discussion of the costs of climate inaction and the massive potential for clean energy job creation in our country. And that is because Sen. McConnell wants to sabotage the call for climate action,” he said.
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) added that Republicans were making “a mockery of the legislative process” by bringing the Green New Deal resolution up for a vote just to have the Senate vote it down.
“Republicans want to force this political stunt to distract from the fact that they neither have a plan nor a sense of urgency to deal with the threat of climate change. … It’s a political act. It’s a political stunt,” he said.
Some reaction on the bill:
Bill Snape, senior counsel at the Center for Biological Diversity: “Senate Republicans want to make a circus of the Green New Deal, but they’re just exposing themselves as fossil-fuel-funded clowns. Americans want bold action on climate change to preserve a livable planet for their children and grandchildren. Fighting the Green New Deal without putting any remotely serious alternative on the table is going to backfire.”
Alfredo Ortiz, CEO of the Job Creators Network: “Voting ‘present’ as some Senators are reportedly considering – is not sufficient. Every Senator must publicly reject the brain-dead ideas contained in this proposal and take a stand for the free-market principles that make America strong and prosperous.”
Green New Deal antics abound…
GOP SENATOR CRITICIZES GREEN NEW DEAL WITH POSTER OF REAGAN ON DINO: Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) on Tuesday brought posters depicting babies, a Star Wars creature, Aquaman and one of former President Ronald Reagan firing a machine gun while riding a dinosaur to argue against the Green New Deal as lawmakers debated the proposal in the Senate.
“Critics might quibble with this depiction of a climactic battle of the Cold War because, while awesome, in real life, there was no climactic battle. There was no battle with, or without, velociraptors,” Lee said.
Lee argued that the picture was just as relevant to the Cold War as he believes the proposed Green New Deal would be to solving climate change.
“This image has as much to do with overcoming communism in the 20th century as the Green New Deal has to do with overcoming climate change in the 21st,” he said, calling the progressive proposal “ridiculous.”
The velociraptor poster was one of several Lee brought in to illustrate his point.
“This is the real solution to climate change: babies,” he said, as a poster with six babies on it appeared next to him.
“More people mean bigger markets for more innovation,” he said. “American babies, in particular, are likely going to be wealthier, better educated and more conservation-minded.”
HICKENLOOPER IS FIRST 2020 DEM CANDIDATE TO REJECT GREEN NEW DEAL: Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D), a 2020 presidential candidate, came out against the Green New Deal on Tuesday, saying that he supports the “concept,” but feels the resolution “sets unachievable goals.”
In an op-ed published Tuesday in The Washington Post, Hickenlooper said the scope of the resolution introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) was too wide for the technology currently available to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“The resolution sets unachievable goals. We do not yet have the technology needed to reach ‘net-zero greenhouse gas emissions’ in 10 years. That’s why many wind and solar companies don’t support it,” Hickenlooper wrote.
“In addition to technological barriers, the Ocasio-Cortez-Markey resolution sets the Green New Deal up for failure by shifting away from private decision-making and toward the public sector — including multiple provisions with little connection to reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” he continued.
Hickenlooper pointed to provisions of the Green New Deal resolution that called for a federal jobs guarantee — a program that would provide any American with a job — as unrealistic.
“This provision, along with others, would produce a massive expansion of government that would likely be far too expensive and complex to execute effectively in the urgent time frame we are facing,” he wrote.
Solving climate change, Hickenlooper contended, involves engaging with the private sector and the nation’s top universities to spur innovation.
ON TAP WEDNESDAY:
On Wednesday, The House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology’s subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight will hold a hearing to look into the EPA’s IRIS program, which aims to identify health hazards from chemicals.
The House Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing looking into the Interior Department’s proposed FY 2019 budget.
Across Capitol Hill, the Senate’s Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Committee will hold a hearing to examine “our blue economy” and looking at marine economic development.
The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development will hold a budget hearing on the Department of Energy. Energy Secretary Rick Perry will testify.
OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY:
Oil prices rise as attention turns to tightening global supplies, MarketWatch reports
In blow to climate, coal plants emitted more than ever in 2018, The Washington Post reports
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
Check out stories from Tuesday…
-Senate blocks Green New Deal
-Trump signs executive order on protecting US from potential EMP attacks
-GOP senator criticizes Green New Deal with poster of Reagan riding a dinosaur
-McConnell: ‘I do’ believe in human-caused climate change
-Ocasio-Cortez to followers: If Mike Lee can be a senator, you can do anything
-Trump to visit Florida on Friday to discuss infrastructure projects near Lake Okeechobee
-Hickenlooper opposes Green New Deal: Resolution sets ‘unachievable’ goals
-Trump’s pick to lead Interior blocked study on endangered species: report
-Ethics office scrutinizing Pruitt’s luxury condo deal
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