Senate Democrats introduce ‘Green New Deal’ alternative

Senate Democrats introduced a joint resolution Thursday meant to unify the party around a common climate change plan as Republicans seek to rip the party over the “Green New Deal.”

The concise nine-line resolution introduced by Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), ranking member on the Senate Energy and Public Works Committee, commits Democrats to acknowledging climate change is happening, that it’s human caused and that something must be done.

{mosads}“Climate change is real, human activity during the last century is the dominant cause of the climate crisis; and the United States and Congress should take immediate action to address the challenge of climate change,” the resolution reads in its entirety.

All 47 members of the Senate Democratic Caucus signed on to co-sponsor the legislation.

“We have an obligation in the body of the House to do something about it,” said Carper on the Senate floor Thursday.

The resolution is meant as an alternative to the Green New Deal resolution introduced in early February by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.). Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) fast-tracked the vote on the resolution two weeks ago in an effort to highlight a Democratic divide over the plan.  

While McConnell recently hinted at a pushed back timeline as far off as August, Democrats had planned to vote “present” on the plan to avoid appearing misaligned on their climate stance.

The latest proposal would circumvent that need.

While the new resolution doesn’t offer any specific plans to decrease emissions and combat climate change, Democratic leaders championed it as a push in the right direction as Republicans failed to back or introduce any climate bills of their own.

“Until they in the majority put a plan on the floor as to what they would do with climate change, they don’t have much standing,” Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) told Politico Tuesday. He called McConnell’s planned vote on the Green New Deal a “sham.”

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) earlier in the week suggested that she too will be introducing her own alternative resolution on climate change. Calling the Green New Deal “too political” and including “too much,” she told The Hill her resolution would be focused more on science.

A draft of her resolution was released mistakenly last week, according to Feinstein. She said the resolution would be introduced in upcoming weeks.