More than a decade after the term was coined by columnist Thomas Friedman in the New York Times, there is a Green New Deal proposal in Congress.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) have proposed a formal resolution that would frame climate change, economic sustainability and social justice together under a unifying theme, calling for a Depression-era national mobilization similar to FDR's New Deal, and serving as a litmus test for Democratic presidential candidates going forward.
History of the Green New Deal
A Green New Deal has long been an amorphous idea kicking around progressive circles. President Obama attempted to make it part of his platform in the form of a cap-and-trade bill that died in the Senate early in his presidency. His other climate policies were largely undone by President Trump.
It wasn't under Rep. Ocasio-Cortez made it a tentpole of her insurgent 2018 congressional campaign that it began to coalesce into an actual set of policies and a major piece of the Democratic agenda. AOC's platform called for “transitioning the United States to a carbon-free, 100-percent renewable energy system, and a fully modernized electrical grid by 2035.”
What Does it Do?
The Green New Deal attempts to tie that goal to broader issues of inequality, infrastructure modernization and access to healthcare. The plan calls for a 10-year national mobilization to aggressively curb greenhouse gas emissions, including neutralizing human-caused greenhouse emissions entirely by 2050 and a goal of increasing U.S. renewable energy production to near 100 percent within a decade.
The GND proposal goes on to tie the need for a massive national infrastructure overhaul to climate change and the effects of worsening natural disasters. It also proposes that every existing building in the country be retrofitted to more efficiently use energy and water.
What Comes Next?
As a non-binding resolution, the proposal would not change any laws even if it were to pass. Instead, it's meant as a stake in the ground around which Democrats can rally their base, and as a framework for candidates running for office to endorse. So far, every major Democrat running for president in 2020 has endorsed a Green New Deal in concept. Thursday's resolution would add specific policy goals for candidates to either endorse or refute.
The sweeping resolution goes beyond climate change proposals to include other pieces of a progressive platform, like a call for a federal jobs guarantee, universal basic income and universal healthcare. By framing those items as part and parcel of environmental policy, supporters hope to galvanize voters around a holistic "big idea," the way FDR garnered support for the New Deal during the Depression.
The Trump administration has asked an appeals court to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s board of governors by Monday, before the central bank’s next vote on interest rates. Trump sought to fire Cook Aug. 25, but a federal judge ruled late Tuesday that the removal was illegal and reinstated her to the Fed’s board.
President Donald Trump's administration is appealing a ruling blocking him from immediately firing Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook as he seeks more control over the traditionally independent board. The notice of appeal was filed Wednesday, hours after U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb handed down the ruling. The White House insists the Republican president had the right to fire Cook over mortgage fraud allegations involving properties in Michigan and Georgia from before she joined the Fed. Cook's lawsuit denies the allegations and says the firing was unlawful. The case could soon reach the Supreme Court, which has allowed Trump to fire members of other independent agencies but suggested that power has limitations at the Fed.
Chief Justice John Roberts has let President Donald Trump remove a member of the Federal Trade Commission, the latest in a string of high-profile firings allowed for now by the Supreme Court.
President Donald Trump has fired one of two Democratic members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to break a 2-2 tie ahead of the board considering the largest railroad merger ever proposed.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Donald Trump has a message for critics who think turning the U.S. government into a major stockholder of Intel is a “socialist” move: More is coming.
Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook's lawyer says she'll sue President Donald Trump's administration to try to prevent him from firing her. Longtime Washington attorney Abbe Lowell said Tuesday that Trump “has no authority to remove” Cook. If Trump succeeds in removing Cook from the Fed's board of governors, it could erode the Fed’s political independence, which is considered critical to its ability to fight inflation because it enables the Fed to take unpopular steps like raising interest rates. The Republican president said Monday he was removing Cook because of allegations she committed mortgage fraud. Cook was appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden in 2022 and says she won't step down.
Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook late Wednesday said she wouldn’t leave her post after Trump on social media called on her to resign over an accusation from one his officials that she committed mortgage fraud.
