Democratic lawmakers shunning Green New Deal despite pressure from Left Naomi Lim
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/democratic-lawmakers-shunning-green-new-deal-despite-pressure-from-left
The Green New Deal has high-profile backers in Congress, but several incumbent Democrats are keeping their distance from the proposal left-wing supporters say would address climate change and economic inequality.
The nonbinding resolution, championed by New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, would pair a transition to 100% clean, renewable energy with economic and social programs, such as a federal jobs guarantee and universal healthcare. Its goals have become a litmus test for Democrats courting liberal voters as they seek the 2020 presidential nomination.
But candidates running in the party’s primaries for spots further down the ballot and against Republicans in November 2020 are grappling with the often-poisonous politics of the proposed framework.
Democratic Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar, who represents a slither of the state from San Antonio’s suburbs to the Rio Grande, won his 2018 primary race with almost 85% of the vote. But in recent weeks, the self-described “moderate-centrist,” Democrat, first elected to the House in 2004, has upped his criticism of the Green New Deal. Cuellar, 64, faces a 2020 primary challenge from attorney Jessica Cisneros, who is running with support from Justice Democrats, the same liberal political action committee that backed Ocasio-Cortez’s surprise primary win last cycle of a member of the House Democratic leadership.
“Well, first of all, I call them ‘Justice Socialists.’ They are socialists, no ifs and no buts about it,” Cuellar said, having previously accused them of wanting to “impose their vision on Texas.”
Justice Democrats “believe in a Green Deal,” Cuellar said. “And in my area, for example, it would kill thousands of jobs.”
Cuellar isn’t the only incumbent to flinch at the Green New Deal. California Rep. Harley Rouda, a freshman who flipped the Orange County seat held by 30-year Republican Dana Rohrabacher, deflected a question over whether he would vote for the Green New Deal should the House consider it. He added in a separate interview that GOP uproar regarding the Green New Deal was distracting lawmakers from a more nuanced conversation about climate-related issues, a significant concern in his coastal district.
Groups such as the Sunrise Movement are trying to keep the Green New Deal in the public eye as it languishes on Capitol Hill. Sunrise Movement activists are protesting Democratic presidential hopefuls and members of Congress. Sunrise Movement demonstrators this month mobbed a district office of first-term Kansas Rep. Sharice Davids, calling for her to wholeheartedly embrace the measure. The group targeted another freshman Democrat’s district office, Iowa Rep. Cynthia Axne in Des Moines, coinciding with the United Nations’ annual climate conference.
Across the Capitol complex, Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, who joined other Democrats in voting “present” when the Green New Deal was brought to the Senate’s floor in March, has faced a series of protests over his qualified endorsement of the framework. Although Peters, facing reelection next year, is in favor of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050, he wants to “move beyond talking about climate change” to “concrete action.”
Peters’s spokesperson this month distanced him from the Green New Deal.
“Sen. Peters did not vote for the Green New Deal when it came to a vote on the Senate floor,” the statement read. “His focus is on commonsense efforts that effectively address climate change and protect the Great Lakes in a manner that will benefit Michigan workers and strengthen our economy and national security.”
John Hickenlooper is also juggling the Green New Deal in his bid for Colorado’s Senate seat. The Sunrise Movement has endorsed his opponent, given the center-left politician’s track record with the oil and gas industry as the former mayor of Denver and governor of Colorado, as well as his pulling out from the organization’s No Fossil Fuel Money pledge when he was a presidential contender. Last month, he raised concerns about the prospect of Green New Deal-linked litigation if it were to pass Congress and be signed into law by President Trump.
While the Green New Deal remains popular with Democrats, Republican approval has plummeted, according to a Yale and George Mason University poll conducted earlier this year. Its growing unpopularity is most evident among self-described conservative Republicans, whose support for the plan slid about 50% to almost one-third over the spring, driven mostly by GOP talking points pegging it as an effort to ban meat and air travel.
Yet, Democratic strategists insist the Green New Deal won’t have negative repercussions for 2020 congressional contests because, for one, “it’s been mischaracterized by the Right in so many ridiculous ways,” according to Christopher Hahn.
“Climate change, however, will be a real issue in 2020, and it’s not a winner for Trump and the GOP. It may cost them votes in Iowa and other agrarian areas,” the Aggressive Progressive podcast host and former Democratic consultant told the Washington Examiner, referring to recent fires in California and floods in Iowa.
Democratic strategist Stefan Hankin similarly dismissed concerns.
“The Green New Deal is a policy outline, which is relatively meaningless in the big picture, but it makes the point that the climate needs to be paid attention to. The GOP is somehow still putting their money on ‘no it’s not, and I don’t care what data and science says.’ I mean, Saudia Arabia is divesting from oil, and we’re going to try to open coal mines? FFS,” Hankin said.
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