When asked by moderator Chris Wallace during the first presidential debate of the 2020 campaign season if he supports the Green New Deal (GND), Joe Biden said, “No, I don’t support the Green New Deal.”
But according to his website, “Biden believes the Green New Deal is a crucial framework for meeting the climate challenges we face. It powerfully captures two basic truths, which are at the core of his plan: (1) the United States urgently needs to embrace greater ambition on an epic scale to meet the scope of this challenge, and (2) our environment and our economy are completely and totally connected.”
It’s true the Biden Plan for a Clean Energy Revolution and Environmental Justice does not go nearly as far as the super-radical GND, the brainchild of socialist congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). Biden’s plan does not include many of the numerous left-wing programs contained in the GND, such as Medicare for All, a universal basic income, a federal jobs guarantee, free college, etc. Those radical plans make the GND one of the costliest and most socialistic bills in American history.
However, Biden’s plan is far from moderate. It does, in fact, share much in common with the Green New Deal.
So, what exactly is in Biden’s plan? Here are some of the highlights:
- “Ensure the U.S. achieves a 100% clean energy economy and reaches net-zero emissions no later than 2050.”
- “On day one, Biden will make smart infrastructure investments to rebuild the nation and to ensure that our buildings, water, transportation, and energy infrastructure can withstand the impacts of climate change.”
- “He will not only recommit the United States to the Paris Agreement on climate change – he will go much further than that.”
- “The Biden plan will make a historic investment in our clean energy future and environmental justice, paid for by rolling back the Trump tax incentives that enrich corporations at the expense of American jobs and the environment.”
- “Biden will set a target of reducing the carbon footprint of the U.S. building stock 50% by 2035, creating incentives for deep retrofits that combine appliance electrification, efficiency, and on-site clean power generation.”
- “Make climate change a core national security priority.”
Together, these provisions would absolute crush the U.S. economy and put America in grave danger. China controls most of the world’s rare earth mineral production, in form or another, and those minerals are necessary for building the billions of solar panels and millions of wind turbines Biden’s plan would require.
Wind and solar energy are much less reliable than conventional energy development, and much more expensive, especially when you strip away all government subsidies and scale production up to a level that would allow the country to function anywhere near the way it does now.
By driving up energy costs, the Biden plan would drive millions of jobs out of the country and force the country to rely on foreign powers for its energy.
And we shouldn’t dismiss the possibility Biden will go much further than he has let on thus far. There are good reasons to believe that a Biden administration would kowtow to the radical Left and end up supporting the GND if he were to win the upcoming election.
First, Biden’s running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), is a co-sponsor of and leading advocate for the Green New Deal.
On March 26, 2019, Harris said, “Climate change is an existential threat, and confronting it requires bold action. I’m a proud cosponsor of Senator Markey’s Green New Deal resolution. Political stunts won’t get us anywhere. Combatting this crisis first requires the Republican majority to stop denying science and finally admit that climate change is real and humans are the dominant cause. Then we can get serious about taking action to tackle the climate crisis at the scale of the problem.”
And because 77-year-old Joe Biden, if elected, would be the oldest president to ever take office, one cannot ignore the fact that there is a higher-than-usual likelihood that Harris could take over for Biden at some point during his first term.
Second, the most vocal supporter of the Green New Deal, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, recently said, “I think, overall, we can likely push Vice President Biden in a more progressive direction across policy issues. … Our main priority is to make sure that the vice president is successful and victorious in November so that we can have those kinds of conversations in the first place from a more effective stance with him in the White House.”
In other words, Ocasio-Cortez wants Biden in the White House because she thinks she can push him into supporting her socialist agenda, including the Green New Deal.
Third, if the Democrats win the White House and control of the U.S. Senate this November, the current Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer (D-NY), has said that he would do anything and everything to ensure that his party’s agenda comes to fruition.
Schumer has repeatedly said, “Everything is on the table.” This would include statehood for Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico, which would dramatically increase Democrats’ control of the Senate, possibly for decades. Schumer said, “I would love to make them states.”
Schumer has also pledged his support to end the filibuster, saying, “As for the filibuster, I’m not busting my chops to become majority leader to do very little or nothing done.”
If Schumer’s wish list becomes reality, that would significantly increase the prospect that the GND, or some version of it, could be rammed through Congress, along with a bunch of other far-left proposals.
If the Green New Deal shows up on Biden’s desk, and his party and special-interest groups are fully in favor of it, do you really think Biden would veto it? If so, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to sell you.
For now, Joe Biden is walking on a political tight rope. On one hand, he is trying to appeal to moderate Democrats and independents by attempting to portray himself as common-sense moderate. On the other hand, he needs to retain the support of his party’s increasingly powerful far-left base, which fully supports the Green New Deal and other socialistic proposals.
The $50,000 question is: If Biden wins, which version will occupy the White House, the moderate or the radical?
Chris Talgo ([email protected]) is the editorial director and a research fellow at The Heartland Institute, as well as a researcher and contributing editor at StoppingSocialism.com.
