Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced Tuesday that he plans to hold a vote on the controversial “Green New Deal” resolution to combat climate change at some point before the August recess.
He told reporters that he’s read with "some amusement" that Democrats were discussing voting "present" on the resolution, a move that would help them avoid taking a stance on the far-left proposal which was introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) in the House and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) in the Senate.
"The only question I would ask is if this is such a popular thing to do and so necessary, why would one want to dodge the vote,” McConnell commented Tuesday. “This is an opportunity to go on record about measures that ought to be taken by the United States on a unilateral basis to address the problem and it's a debate we'll have in all likelihood sometime before the August break."
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said earlier Tuesday that he would be fine with a unanimous "present" vote from Democrats.
"McConnell just said two weeks ago that he didn't think we should spend time on the floor bringing up legislation that won't get the president's support," Murphy said. "When it's an effort to own the libs, he thinks about the floor a little bit differently."
Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) said Tuesday that the proposal would drive “a stake into the heart of our strong and healthy and growing economy” and is “clearly unaffordable.”
He referenced a study released Monday that estimated the Green New Deal would cost between $51 trillion and $93 trillion over 10 years.
"The solution to climate change is not government regulation, it's innovation, and that's the way we ought to be heading," he argued.