Um, AOC's Own Staff Is Undermining Her Green New Deal

Cortney O'Brien | July 12, 2019 10:40 AM

Proponents of the Green New Deal have clearly given up. Although Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) introduced the legislation to great fanfare earlier this year, it's radical demands weren't particularly well received - even by members of her own party. Some, like Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI), wondered how the restrictive air travel would work, particularly for her state of Hawaii. Others, like Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), were just plain confused by the text. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi couldn't even remember the name.

Now, it seems Ocasio-Cortez's staff is even backing away from it? The freshman lawmaker's chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti, recently admitted to Washington Gov. Jay Inslee's (D) climate director, Sam Ricketts, that helping the climate wasn't even on their radar when they first introduced the measure, according to The Washington Post. Inslee, who's currently running for president, has made climate change the biggest issue of his platform.

"The interesting thing about the Green New Deal,” he said, “is it wasn’t originally a climate thing at all.” Ricketts greeted this startling notion with an attentive poker face. “Do you guys think of it as a climate thing?” Chakrabarti continued. “Because we really think of it as a how-do-you-change-the-entire-economy thing.”
“Yeah,” said Ricketts. Then he said: “No.” Then he said: “I think it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s dual. It is both rising to the challenge that is existential around climate and it is building an economy that contains more prosperity. More sustainability in that prosperity — and more broadly shared prosperity, equitability and justice throughout.” (Washington Post)