The executive director of the left-leaning Roosevelt Institute, Felicia Wong, told Hill.TV on Monday that U.S. climate change policy should not be “middle ground,” citing 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s reported proposal on the issue.
“I really look forward to hearing what Vice President Biden’s notion of a middle ground is on climate because one of the most important points in the latest climate debate is that there is general agreement that some kind of price on carbon, some kind of market price on carbon, is one important element that is often the center of anything — what people call a middle ground in climate policy,” Wong told Hill.TV’s Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti.
“But I would argue, and the latest science and the latest economists argue, that you need to go much farther than that,” she continued. “You actually need to look at very large-scale, public investment in some kind of much more green infrastructure.”
“We also need to look at real regulation, reining in the oil and gas companies, in addition to some kind of price on carbon,” she said.
Reuters reported on Friday that Biden is aiming to propose an approach to combatting climate change that includes recommitting to the Paris agreement.
The report suggests that Biden could be looking to appeal to working-class voters, who may be skeptical of embracing sweeping climate change plans.
However, other Democratic 2020 contenders, including Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D), whose campaign is centered around fighting climate change, have signaled their support for the progressive “Green New Deal.”
The progressive package of proposals looks to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions to net zero over a 10-year period.
— Julia Manchester
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