Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mr. THUNE. Madam President, I thank my colleague from Kansas, the chairman of the Senate Ag committee, who was incredibly instrumental in getting that last Farm Bill passed. I have the privilege of serving on his committee, and we do a lot of important work for our farmers and ranchers in this country. As he very aptly pointed out, one of the things that could undo a lot of the good work we hope will improve the economic outlook for farmers and ranchers, which today is a very difficult one--something that could really undo that is passage of something like this Green New Deal. It could do irreparable harm to the Ag economy in this country and would be disastrous for farmers and ranchers.

This afternoon, Senate Democrats will have a chance to vote on the Green New Deal, and the American people will have a chance to see just how many Democrats embrace this new government expansion.

The Green New Deal, as the name suggests, is largely about energy policy, but there is a lot more to unpack. The Green New Deal is a comprehensive socialist fantasy that would put the government in charge of everything from healthcare to the way you heat your house.

Do you like your car? With the Green New Deal you almost certainly will not be able to keep it. The Green New Deal also wants to eliminate fossil fuels, which means the engine that currently powers your car will likely be illegal. It also means, roughly, 3.5 million American truckdrivers will be out of a job.

Presumably airplanes would also be grounded, drying up the aviation sector and the travel, tourism, and business it supports.

Do you like your house? That may not matter if the government decides your house doesn't meet the Green New Deal's guidelines. Enjoy rebuilding your home according to plans provided by Washington.

Do you like your job? The Green New Deal will eliminate millions of current energy jobs, but that is not all. The energy industry in this country powers the American economy. Our supply of reliable, affordable energy allows businesses to flourish. So what happens when the Green New Deal drives up the price of energy or when businesses are hit with Green New Deal taxes or when American manufacturers can't meet the Green New Deal's stringent emissions goal? Well, I will tell you what will happen: American jobs will be lost or move overseas.

I mentioned Green New Deal taxes. That is because paying for this plan would require massive tax hikes on just about everybody. One think tank has released a first estimate of what the Green New Deal would cost, and the answer is between $51 trillion and $93 trillion over 10 years. That is almost an incomprehensible amount of money. Ninety-three trillion dollars is more than the amount of money the U.S. Government has spent in its entire history. That is right. Since 1789, when the Constitution went into effect, the Federal Government has spent a total of $83.2 trillion. In other words, it has taken us 230 years to spend the amount of money Democrats want to spend in 10.

How do Democrats plan to pay for this? Well, they don't actually have a plan. The Green New Deal resolution itself refers vaguely to ``community grants, public banks, and other public financing.'' That is all very well, but unless the Democrats' plan is to just print a lot of money, that public financing has to come from somewhere, and since the government is not currently sitting on a spare $9.3 trillion a year, that money is likely going to come from taxes--new and heavy taxes on just about every American.

Let me be very clear. This is not a plan that can be paid for with Democrats' favorite solution of taxing the rich. Taxing every millionaire in the United States at a 100-percent rate for 10 years would only bring in a tiny fraction of $93 trillion. In fact, there aren't enough millionaires in the entire world to cover $93 trillion. In 2017, the combined wealth of all the millionaires in the world was $70.2 trillion. So you could confiscate--you could literally confiscate all the money from all the millionaires in the entire world, and you still wouldn't have $93 trillion. The Green New Deal is not a plan that can be paid for by taxing the rich. This massive government expansion would be paid for on the backs of working families.

The energy industry has been a bright spot for American families over the past few years. Between 2007 and 2017, as the price of healthcare soared and education and food costs increased, household energy costs decreased. That is a big deal for working families, but that progress would go away under the Green New Deal. Energy costs would go up, not down, and the price of a lot of other items would likely rise sharply as well, as everyone from farmers to manufacturers would struggle under the Green New Deal's mandates and taxes. Needless to say, families' paychecks would shrink by a lot.

The size of the tax hikes that would be required to even begin to finance the Green New Deal would usher in a new era of diminished prosperity for American families. Gone would be the American dream of giving your children a better life than you have enjoyed. Under the Green New Deal, American families could look forward to permanently narrowed horizons.

So this afternoon, my Democratic colleagues face a choice. They can double down on their socialist fantasies and vote for the Green New Deal resolution--perhaps the most costly resolution ever to come before the Senate--or they can reject this green nightmare and resolve to work with Republicans to advance clean energy in a way that will not devastate the livelihoods of the American people.

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