The Green New Deal

Floor Speech

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Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, yesterday afternoon, the Senate voted on the Green New Deal--the Democrats' $93 trillion socialist fantasy.

How did the Democrats vote on this deal? They voted present. That is right. There were 43 out of 47 Members of the Democratic caucus who voted present.

This may be the first time in my experience here that I have ever seen a piece of legislation and people who authored that legislation-- in this case, there were 13 Democrats who authored the bill, cosponsored the bill, introduced the bill, and indicated that action on the issue needed to be taken now--proceed to vote present. I have never seen that in my time either in the House or in the Senate. There was always an opportunity, as the Presiding Officer knows, in the House of Representatives, when you voted by electronic machine, to punch the yellow ``present'' option. You had red or green or present, but very rarely was that used. Yet I don't think I have ever seen, in the U.S. Senate, 13 U.S. Senators file a bill, introduce a bill, cosponsor a bill, talk about how important it is that we deal with it and deal with it immediately, and then proceed to vote present. That is what happened yesterday.

I want to step back for a minute and talk about the Green New Deal-- the Democrats' plan to put the government in charge of everything from your energy to your healthcare.

The costs of this plan would be staggeringly high. One think tank released its first estimate that found that the Green New Deal would cost somewhere between $51 trillion and $93 trillion over a 10-year period--between $51 trillion and $93 trillion. The 2017 gross domestic product for the entire world--the whole planet--only came to $80.7 trillion, which is more than $10 trillion less than the Democrats are proposing to spend on the Green New Deal. This $93 trillion is more than the amount of money the U.S. Government has spent in its entire history.

So how do the Democrats plan to cover that $93 trillion? Well, they don't actually have a plan. The Green New Deal resolution itself makes a vague reference to ``community grants, public banks, and other public financing.''

Then, of course, the Democrats have their favorite funding source, which is taxing the rich. The problem is, there is no way taxing the rich would even come close to paying for the Green New Deal. One analyst found that three Democratic proposals--the New York Representative's proposed 70-percent top tax rate, the Massachusetts Senator's wealth tax, and the Hawaii Senator's financial transactions tax--would together pay for approximately 4 percent of the Green New Deal.

Taxing every millionaire in the United States at a 100-percent rate for 10 years would bring in only a tiny fraction of $93 trillion. Taxing every household making more than $200,000 a year at a 100- percent rate for 10 years wouldn't get the Democrats anywhere close to $93 trillion. Taxing every family making more than $100,000 a year at a 100-percent rate for 10 years would still leave the Democrats far short of $93 trillion.

The Green New Deal is not a plan that can be paid for by taxing the rich. This plan would be paid for on the backs of working families. The size of the tax hikes that would be required to even begin to finance this massive government expansion would sharply diminish Americans' standard of living and usher in a new era of diminished prosperity, and I haven't even mentioned the freedom of choice Americans would lose and give up under the Green New Deal.

Your car's engine would likely soon become illegal. Washington planners could force you to rebuild your house to meet strict, new, energy-efficient guidelines. Your ability to travel by air might be restricted or entirely eliminated.

The Green New Deal doesn't limit itself to massive government expansion in the area of energy.

Among other things, it would also put the government in charge of your healthcare. So, if you like your health plan, get ready to give it up. Then there are the millions of current energy jobs that would be lost under this plan. Plus, there would likely be significant job losses in other industries as small businesses and larger companies would find themselves being unable to cope with the Green New Deal's mandates and taxes.

For American families, the Green New Deal would mean smaller paychecks, fewer jobs, fewer choices, and a permanently reduced standard of living.

You don't even have to take my word for it. Here is what the AFL-CIO, which represents 12\1/2\ million workers in a number of unions, had to say about the Green New Deal:

The Green New Deal resolution is far too short on specific solutions that speak to the jobs of our members and the critical sectors of our economy. It is not rooted in an engineering-based approach and makes promises that are not achievable or realistic. We will not accept proposals that could cause immediate harm to millions of our members and their families. We will not stand by and allow threats to our members' jobs and their families' standard of living go unanswered.

Let me repeat that:

We will not accept proposals that could cause immediate harm to millions of our members and their families. We will not stand by and allow threats to our members' jobs and their families' standard of living go unanswered.

Again, these are quotes from the AFL-CIO. That is what it is saying about the Democrats' Green New Deal.

The American people have a right to know where the Democrats stand on this massive government expansion. Are they for it or are they against it? Their Presidential candidates have embraced this plan. There were 13 Senate Democrats, as I mentioned, who sponsored the original Green New Deal resolution in the Senate, and there were 92 Democrats who sponsored the original Green New Deal resolution in the House. Yet, yesterday, just four Members of the Democratic caucus had the courage to make their positions clear.

As for the rest, well, it is actually understandable that most Democrats didn't want to go on the record as supporting, perhaps, the most irresponsible and costly resolution ever to come before the U.S. Senate. It is pretty difficult to tell your constituents that you support cutting their paychecks, eliminating millions of their jobs, and drastically reducing their choices.

I am sure there are more than four Members of the Democratic caucus who don't support this plan, but the Democrats are more and more enthralled with the far-left wing of their party, and, clearly, some Democrats were afraid to actually reject this plan with their votes.

So what happened? There were 43 out of 47 Members of the Democratic caucus here in the U.S. Senate who left the American people in limbo about their views, and they ended up voting present.

I would love to think that every Democrat who voted present yesterday has realized how damaging the Green New Deal would be to working families. But the scary truth is that while some Democrats may have voted present simply because they wanted to avoid angering the far-left wing of their party, other Democrats really believe--they really believe--in the Green New Deal.

The junior Senator from Vermont was asked if the Green New Deal goes too far. His answer? ``No. You cannot go too far on the issue of climate change.''

Really? You can't go too far? Not even if you saddle millions of families with exorbitant taxes and other costs just for miniscule gains? Not even if you permanently damage the American economy?

One of the Green New Deal's authors has actually stated that it is a legitimate question whether people should have children because of climate change. Is that something the Green New Deal supporters want to legislate too? Really?

The Democrats' Green New Deal extremism is disturbing, and I am deeply disappointed in yesterday's vote because the American people deserve to hear where every Democrat stands on this dangerous plan. Americans deserve to know whether Democrats are willing to hike their taxes, eliminate their jobs, and diminish drastically their freedoms.

I hope more Democrats will join the four who rejected this massive government overreach and will work with Republicans to develop responsible solutions to protect our environment--solutions that don't hurt American families.

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