Tim Ryan to Bernie Sanders: ‘You don’t have to yell’

Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) sparred over the role of cars and fossil fuels in curbing greenhouse gas emissions during Tuesday’s Democratic debates.

Ryan was asked to weigh in on a proposal from Sanders that would eliminate new gas-powered auto sales by 2040.

{mosads}Ryan responded with his plan to boost electric vehicle production in the U.S., as well as batteries — a market currently dominated by China. But Sanders said the U.S. can’t ignore the pollution caused by the fossil fuel industry. 

“I get a little tired of Democrats afraid of big ideas,” Sanders said. “Please don’t tell me that we cannot take on the fossil fuel industry. Nothing happens unless we do that. … What do you do with an industry that knowingly, for billions of dollars in short-term profits, is destroying this planet?”  

Ryan then went after Sanders’s volume in his response.

“I didn’t say we couldn’t get there til 2040, Bernie. You don’t have to yell,” Ryan replied. “All I’m saying is we have to invent our way out of this thing. And if we’re waiting for 2040 for a ban to come in on gasoline vehicles we’re screwed.”