Ocasio-Cortez, Markey to unveil Green New Deal legislation

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) are reportedly planning to unveil legislation for a Green New Deal in the coming days.

Markey’s office confirmed to The Hill that the senator was working with the freshman New York representative on a plan, adding that an announcement regarding the bill’s contents is coming soon.

{mosads}Language in the bill was not yet final, the spokesperson said, nor was a timeline for when the bill would be unveiled. A spokesperson for Ocasio-Cortez did not respond immediately to The Hill’s request for comment.

A spokesperson for the Sunrise Movement, a group of climate change activists that organized a protest attended by Ocasio-Cortez in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) office over the issue last year, told Axios — which first reported news of the legislation — that it was involved in the bill’s discussions. The group added that an announcement was planned for as soon as the end of next week.

Several top Democrats who have announced 2020 presidential campaigns have shown some level of support for a Green New Deal, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.).

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, considered a potential 2020 Democratic primary candidate, called for Democrats to define the policy in a speech this week at St. Anselm College.

“It’s time as a party that we started putting some meat on the bone and laying out exactly what a Green New Deal should include, and I believe that that plan should be bold and ambitious and, most importantly, achievable,” Bloomberg said, while adding that it was “great to see so many fellow Democrats embrace the idea of a Green New Deal.”