Guest essay by Eric Worrall
According to E&E News, Democrats are arguing over whether to use their new congressional majority to resurrect the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, or to push forward Ocasio-Cortez’s plan to take Federal control of the economy, to save the world from global warming.
Divides harden in clash over global warming committee
Nick Sobczyk, George Cahlink and Kellie Lunney, E&E News reporters
E&E Daily: Friday, November 16, 2018Many House Democrats remain skeptical of a push by leadership and progressives to revive the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, underscoring divisions about how to address climate change in the new Congress.
The caucus clashed in closed-door meetings this week about whether the select panel is even necessary and how much power it should have, with incoming committee chairmen looking to stake out territory on the issue.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has proposed bringing back the select panel to spotlight the issue with Democrats in control of the House, but progressives — led by Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) — are aggressively pushing for a stronger version of the climate committee that would craft a “Green New Deal” to combat climate change.
Ocasio-Cortez has a resolution in-hand that would establish a Select Committee for a Green New Deal, with the goal of crafting a comprehensive policy by 2020.
But the incoming leaders of the committees of jurisdiction on climate — namely, the Energy and Commerce; Natural Resources; and Science, Space and Technology panels — are not pleased with potentially creating a committee that could leach away their power.
…
Read more: https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060106429
In my opinion it is no exaggeration to call Ocasio-Cortez’s plan a blueprint for a “Climate Change Command Economy”. From Alexandria’s website;
6. SCOPE OF THE PLAN FOR A GREEN NEW DEAL AND THE DRAFT LEGISLATION.
- The Plan for a Green New Deal (and the draft legislation) shall be developed in order to achieve the following goals, in each case in no longer than 10 years from the start of execution of the Plan:
- 100% of national power generation from renewable sources;
- building a national, energy-efficient, “smart” grid;
- upgrading every residential and industrial building for state-of-the-art energy efficiency, comfort and safety;
- decarbonizing the manufacturing, agricultural and other industries;
- decarbonizing, repairing and improving transportation and other infrastructure;
- funding massive investment in the drawdown and capture of greenhouse gases;
- making “green” technology, industry, expertise, products and services a major export of the United States, with the aim of becoming the undisputed international leader in helping other countries transition to completely carbon neutral economies and bringing about a global Green New Deal.
- The Plan for a Green New Deal (and the draft legislation) shall recognize that a national, industrial, economic mobilization of this scope and scale is a historic opportunity to virtually eliminate poverty in the United States and to make prosperity, wealth and economic security available to everyone participating in the transformation. In furtherance of the foregoing, the Plan (and the draft legislation) shall:
- provide all members of our society, across all regions and all communities, the opportunity, training and education to be a full and equal participant in the transition, including through a job guarantee program to assure a living wage job to every person who wants one;
- take into account and be responsive to the historical and present-day experiences of low-income communities, communities of color, indigenous communities, rural and urban communities and the front-line communities most affected by climate change, pollution and other environmental harm;
- mitigate deeply entrenched racial, regional and gender-based inequalities in income and wealth (including, without limitation, ensuring that federal and other investment will be equitably distributed to historically impoverished, low income, deindustrialized or other marginalized communities);
- include additional measures such as basic income programs, universal health care programs and any others as the select committee may deem appropriate to promote economic security, labor market flexibility and entrepreneurism; and>
- deeply involve national and local labor unions to take a leadership role in the process of job training and worker deployment.
- The Plan for a Green New Deal (and the draft legislation) shall recognize that innovative public and other financing structures are a crucial component in achieving and furthering the goals and guidelines relating to social, economic, racial, regional and gender-based justice and equality and cooperative and public ownership set forth in paragraphs (2)(A)(i) and (6)(B). The Plan (and the draft legislation) shall, accordingly, ensure that the majority of financing of the Plan shall be accomplished by the federal government, using a combination of the Federal Reserve, a new public bank or system of regional and specialized public banks, public venture funds and such other vehicles or structures that the select committee deems appropriate, in order to ensure that interest and other investment returns generated from public investments made in connection with the Plan will be returned to the treasury, reduce taxpayer burden and allow for more investment.
Read more: https://ocasio2018.com/green-new-deal
To her credit Ocasio-Cortez is not trying to hide what she is attempting to do – she is very open about her intentions. However I do find it rather disturbing that there seems to be serious support for her ideas in the newly elected house.
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Ocasio ( ll Duce ) Cortez
This woman is flat dangerous. A deliberately ignorant know-it-all, and there’s no talking to her.
Democrats seriously considering whether to take Federal control of the economy because Climate Change©… bringing Soviet-style Central Planning stagnant economy to empty store shelves everywhere.
This – THIS – is why we should not elect crazy to Congress.
“THIS – is why we should not elect crazy to Congress.” WE know that, but other’s haven’t gotten that memo yet. I’d suggest the Republicans lay low and keep their trap shut about this. Let the Dems run wild with it for a few months, or until the plan solidifies around the most extreme ideas. THEN start hammering on the clowns that support it.
The problem with that idea is what if they manage to bamboozle enough of the populace into supporting their nonsense while the Republicans are sitting back with their traps shut?
Do you think Republicans shouting “it won’t work” before any details of the plan are in place yet would sway anyone that could be bamboozled? Pointing out the bad stuff right away just allows them to craft a better narrative, it happens every time.
Andrew, why give this woman any serious consideration whatsoever. She is a moron. I don’t mean that in a derogatory or ad hominem manner. I am serious. she does not deserve to be discussed.
Unfortunately she’s moron who was elected to the House of Representatives as a member of the majority party in that chamber. And for some reason that escapes me, she is seen as an up and coming power player in that party. As such, she (and the idiotic things she says and believes) will be a subject of discussion for as long as that remains the case.
So this is how bartenders write and ponder. How knew?
Who knew?
Living in the Great Lakes region of the US we see many (way to many) run down, abandoned, and delapidated houses, farms and towns that resulted from various economic and enviromental events and poiicies. A lot of folk live in substandard houses and apartments.
I see these being torn down (eliminated) because there is no way to revive them for energy efficiency-they won’t pass the audit that will be a requirement to qualify for the New Deal. Even 100+ yr old houses that could be renovated will disappear as the left lacks a respect for history. A new mobile home would barely pass muster and there are tens of thousands I would not step foot in. The owners are too poor, or too stupid, druggies, hillbillies and some or all of the above.
Fortunately the area has a thriving prefab home (and RV) industry providing precisely the skill level they (Progs) seek. So, while my 127 yr old 4500 sq ft Victorian is in great shape, it isn’t efficient enough and would have to be replaced by a 1200 sq ft double wide.
These clowns need to take a road trip thru middle America and witness the immense quantity of goods traveling by truck on or highways. How can that be replaced by green plans? I’d like to hear a legitimate answer to that one.
They don’t do middle America, that’s flyover country (as in they fly over it. Yep, greenies do love their air travel, the hypocrites)
And Atlas shrugs….
How idiotic is the title “Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming” when the pinwheels and solar panel-toys aren’t even made in the US?
Great point. Solar panels and wind turbines need to come from the U.S. as well as all of the control systems and ancillary equipment.
Hey, that’s a thought… in committee mark-up, propose the amendment that all of this “New Green Deal” can come only from made-in-America products. The D’s will jump on that cuz it sounds good and they can’t be bothered to do research ever, so then if the thing gets passed all the silly renewable projects come to a screeching halt cuz none of those products are made-in-America. Problem solved.
No matter what, all “climate change” legislation converges on socialism.
Ms. Ocasio is one of 435 members of the House. The right is trying to make her a scary symbol of some leftist dream. Please, she is a young representative who has to find her way around the Capitol. If she doesn’t represent her district well she will have to find another job in two years. Because she is young and won by surprise the media has focused on her. Don’t bye into the hype. Her constituents are lower middle class Bronx people who want to have a decent life and raise their kids well. They don’t give a damn about socialism or climate change for that matter.
They don’t give a damn how they get free money. They just want more of it now.
Not worth a reply.
Yet you did.
What does that say for you?
only fair as your reply wasn’t worth reading
And she’s promised them plenty of it.
If you believe the “truth” will come back and bite these left wing political demagogues who actually accomplish nothing in Congress; how do you explain Mad Maxine (the name her colleagues gave her), Clyburn (who wants a congressional investigation into why the administration wants to include citizenship again on the census) or “Guam is going to tip over” Hank Johnson?
Indeed. It’s very difficult to vote incumbents out. No matter how stupid, how ineffective or how bad they are. Chappaquidick didn’t end Ted Kennedy’s career after all. Bob Menendez managed to get re-elected despite having been indicted on federal corruption changes. Now that Occasional-Cortex has gotten into office, don’t assume it will only be for two-years no matter how abysmal she performs in the job. She’s safe in a deep blue district, she’s not likely to be voted out of office anytime soon, like it or not.
What a gift Ocasio-Cortez is for Trump and the Republicans. But Trump especially has to get out in front of this and make the 2020 election a choice between all these absurd ideas she is promoting and the economic policies that Trump has ushered in the last 2 years. And very important I think, is to crush the ideas she is promoting, not her personally with ad hominem attacks. The ideas themselves are eligible for ad hominem.
I doubt many people are going to vote for her platform of carbon taxes and Gov’t control of the economy. It is a good thing she is so naive about how she expresses all this. I bet Bernie Sanders is even blushing, she is so absurd. Yes, they will win the inner city vote, but will lose the Electoral College again. The Republicans should be thrilled with having so much material to work with.
A gift? I think not. I’m sure you’ve read her proposal:
“a job guarantee program…a living wage job to every person…basic income programs, universal health care programs…low-income communities, communities of color, indigenous communities, rural and urban communities…deeply involve national and local labor unions…in the process of job training and worker deployment.”
Those massive give-aways benefit a very large portion of people. I’m betting both legal and not. We all know what happens when you can vote yourself free stuff. 🙁
Most certainly a gift. A real stupid one. Probably the best thing that could have happened for the Republicans. Which is why she will get no real traction with all this except for places like the Queens and the Bronx were she was elected. She will be a lite/medium weight in the Democratic Party because of her popularity of being the youngest woman to ever win a seat in the House but I doubt the senior rank and file are going to let a rookie hijack their agenda. And if she ever manages to wrestle long term control of the Dems someday, it probably means more votes for Republicans.
I think she brings more negativity in general as a radical socialist. The richer Democrats on either coast don’t reflect her politics. No experience, a political neophyte and an ideologue that represents the kind of radical socialism of Noam Chomsky. Most Democrats aren’t comfortable with that approach, although Bernie Sanders tapped into that but only because so many Dems hated Hillary. And most Americans hate the word socialism anyway, unless they are of the poor political class wanting the freebies.
She will only get the inner city ethnic vote to support that kind of dumbed down Marxist socialism that would sell there. And the inner city doesn’t vote in high numbers. She got elected in that kind of neighbourhood, but that isn’t reflective of the entire country. How many people are going to vote for that across the nation? If the Republicans run on a fiscal platform of real economic growth, vs. a carbon tax and ludicrous marxist schemes, Trump and the Republicans will win an even higher share of the Electoral College. IMHO.
“7. making “green” technology, industry, expertise, products and services a major export of the United States, with the aim of becoming the undisputed international leader in helping other countries transition to completely carbon neutral economies and bringing about a global Green New Deal.”
And how exactly does Ms. Ocasio-Cortez plan on having the U.S. compete with China on the labor and manufacturing costs of so-called ‘green’ energy like solar panels? From what I’ve found out in past research, the vast majority of solar panels here in the U.S. are made overseas, especially in China. In addition, does she have any idea how many solar panels would be required to meaningfully displace a significant amount of fossil fuels?
The eco-radicalism coupled with the scientific and engineering illiteracy that Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is displaying with her grand “Green New Deal” is (sadly) highly reflective of the voter base that put her in the U.S.
Congress. Without even thinking about how she plans on getting her “Green New Deal” past President Trump, one can only hope that there are not enough Democrats in the new Congress in January to support this potential disaster in the making.
Fortunately, even if her (handlers) grand “Green New Deal” finds sufficient backing in the house, it’ll never make it to the Senate floor. And even if by some miracle it managed to both get on the floor and pass the Senate, Trump will veto it in a heartbeat and it will never get the votes needed to override his veto. It’s DOA as long a the Dems don’t control the Senate and the Presidency. The 2020 election is extremely important.
Ocasio-Cortez,
Is this girl dumb, crazy, or just plain stupid? (Forest Gump?)
Has she even looked at the actual data?
Someone should make her look at actual climate data…!!!
Just sayin…
She would absolutely not understand it.
all of the above.
Even if you could make her look at the data, you can make her comprehend it.
Perhaps she could led by example ie horse and buggy to get to WAshington. Clothing made only from flax, wool Cotten, linen none of those nice easy wear fabrics. Certainly no cars etc much to non-green !.
From Ben Shapiro’s excellent article over at the Daily Wire, he notes one of the first things AOC did upon her arrival in D.C. was send out a tweet starting with this sentence:
Yep. I knew that’s why she ran for office. “…getting money…”
She says she wants to get money out of politics.
On the other hand she says she wants government to control everything.
One of these goals is going to have to give.
She means she wants to get right-wing money out of politics.
Well, I liked the joke….
There are two things keeping any of these “ideas?” from happening:
(1) The U.S. Senate
(2) President Trump
Which makes the 2020 election very important.
Recently I’ve seen a few documentaries about Jonestown–probably because its fortieth anniversary was 18 November. In one of those documentaries there was a clip of Jim Jones advocating that socialism is the only viable and fair form of government. He was proud to be a socialist. We all know how well that worked out. I’ve got to believer that Ocasio-Cortez had an ancestor at Jonestown. It’s just too bad that her ancestor passed on his/her genes before drinking the Flavor-Aid.
Life imitates art.
I knew there must a reason of that sort as to why the BBC were so enthusiastic about Ocasio-Cortez being elected. Every time there’s an election in another country they run airbrushed reportage of the most left-wing candidates they can find, then describe them as though they represent a significant and credible body of mainstream opinion.
They let John McDonnell – the would-be Chancellor / finance minister and the “brains” of Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party – trot (pun intended) out policies like a 3% annual tax on 55% of the value of all private property, without even challenging him on its consequences. They didn’t even report his article for an influential left-wing magazine where he called for the collectivisation of land. That’s always worked a treat every time that’s been carried out. I guess everyone can have their own 400ft-high subsidy machine wind turbine and we can all sing Kumbaya to the background hum.
This is the same guy, our transatlantic cousins may recall from a few years back, who, in his most important Parliament speech of each year, the Opposition response to the Budget, pulled out his well-worn copy of Mao’s Little Red Book for a few quotes. Unlike Corbyn, he has the wherewithal to put his policies into action, if not into useful effect.
While we’ve been commemorating one particular sequence of events from a century, it seems that on both sides of the pond there are Marxists – for this is what McDonnell declares himself to be – who have other events from the period that are at the front of their messed-up minds.
What!? No more Iron and Steel, no more plastic, no more rubber? Well, she should follow her own advice and decarbon her life. That will eliminate her cell phone, computer, iPad (if she has one), every mode of transportation except her feet. It also will, incidentally, starve her to death because there will be no food on the shelves of the grocery stores, and then we won’t have to listen to her stupidly. But unfortunately that wouldn’t happen, she is now part of the ‘elite’ and only us ‘deplorables’ will die.
“… and any others as the select committee may deem appropriate …”
Setup your own government while you’re at it
I sure hope that someone has already mentioned that she thinks the three branches of Government in the US are The Presidency, The Senate and The House of Representatives.
(I wonder if she knows what “branch” to which she was elected?)
PS I thought the name of the movie was “Sleepless in Seattle”, not “Clueless from New York.
One thing I’ve noticed about people her age is that they use words very loosely. Us older folks have difficulty realizing what they mean.
I do not think she was referring to the three “branches” of the US federal government. She referred to the three “chambers”. In the context of elections, she seems to mean the three bodies of elected people: the House, the Senate and the President & VP. (Calling the presidency a “chamber” is particularly lame.)
I still have no idea what her point was, though.
“If we work our butts off to make sure that we take back all three chambers of Congress — uh, rather, all three chambers of government: the presidency, the Senate, and the House in 2020, we can’t start working in 2020,”
What does she mean by “if …we take back …the presidency, the Senate, and the House in 2020, we can’t start working in 2020”?
Since she has such a poor command of English, I do not think she could have authored the Green New Deal Plan.
SR
No it is not “that they use words very loosely”. She and her ilk are just plain stupid and have an immense lack of knowledge. The Dunning-Kruger effect is rampant amongst these people.
indeed. Everytime she speaks, her ignorance shows. She doesn’t know the first thing about most of the subjects she attempts to discuss and it’s blatantly obvious to anyone that does know the slightest bit about the subject.
Indeed, notice my line:
“I still have no idea what her point was, though”
I was not saying she makes sense once you decipher her incorrect use of words. I am saying that poor usage is an additional layer of confusion.
SR
What happens if any law she authors is actually passed?
“We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.”?
loosely is an understatement. Never mind the definition of individual words, she has trouble making coherent sentences.
Have you ever listened to Obama when the teleprompter isn’t working?
Yeah. Except for the numerous Uhms, and Ahhs, he could at least string together half-way coherent sentences without his teleprompter. And when he got caught out on mistakes (like the 57 states) I don’t recall him doubling and tripling down like AOC does (now apparently Joe Liberman was a GOP VP candidate)
Regarding the jobs for everyone, in 1988 my wife and I visited the old USSR,, Moscow. W e saw how this jobs for everyone actually worked. In the “Westerners only”shops one would queue up to get the goods, then one would again queue to pay for them, then queue yet again to puck up the goods. Lots of jobs for everyone of course, but to us Westerners a terrible way to go shopping.
MJE
What about decarbonizing the Congress? I am sure OC will love the idea. No lights, no cars, no air conditioning, no refrigerators, no heat, etc…. Or what about the 230+ carbon dioxide emitting point sources in the third branch (her term, not mine)? Can we vote on eliminating those sources of carbon dioxide
The crackpots are everywhere pouring out of education system that’s overrun with Marxists-
http://joannenova.com.au/2018/11/greens-want-to-put-you-in-jail-for-seven-years-for-burning-coal-after-2030/