On Thursday, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders revealed his $16.3 trillion plan to combat climate change. He's calling his new proposal the Green New Deal, borrowing the title of the legislation that's been championed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.).
Sanders' proposal comes a day after Gov. Jay Inslee — who had centered his presidential campaign on the climate crisis — announced that he would be dropping out of the race.
Sanders' plan calls for moving the transportation and electricity sectors to renewable energy sources by 2030, and complete decarbonization by 2050, "at the latest." He claims the proposal will create 20 million jobs.
"This plan will pay for itself over 15 years," the new section of his campaign website reads. Its propositions cover vast swaths of the American economy, outlining initiatives such as a vehicle trade-in program to encourage the adoption of electric cars, a grant program to "weatherize" American homes, and assistance packages to promote publicly-owned broadband infrastructure.
"It is now the most expensive plan out of all the ones that the contenders have put out," Vox staff writer Umair Irfan told Cheddar. "$16.3 trillion is the highest dollar amount so far out of any of the candidates. What's kind of unique about that is that Bernie is counting this exclusively from government spending."
"He's naming the fossil fuel industry as the adversary. He says that he wants to start litigation and even criminal prosecution of fossil fuel companies," Irfan added. "From more neutral observers, people are a little bit skeptical about the pace that he wants for this transition. And also, the top line dollar amount — $16.3 trillion — that sounds like a tall order and it seems unlikely that you would be able to get that through a Congress, which may be divided."
However, the plan was heralded by environmental groups fighting to prevent climate change.
Greenpeace USA has raised Sanders' climate plan score from a B+ to an A-, tying with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. Only Governor Inslee scored better, with a solid A, before he dropped out.
"If fossil fuel executives and lobbyists reading Sanders' plan are scared, they should be. They've spent millions of dollars to convince the American people that we can't thrive without oil, gas, and coal, when the exact opposite is true. It's time we have a president who calls out their dangerous lies, not one who repeats them," said Jack Shapiro, a senior climate campaigner with Greenpeace.
The plan also won support from the Sunrise Movement, the organization that heralded Rep. Ocasio-Cortez's version of the Green New Deal.
"The Bernie Sanders Green New Deal is not only ambitious in its goals, but it also harkens back to the vision of how the original New Deal was won — through a federal government-led mobilization of all sectors of society," the organization said in a statement.
Representatives for Ocasio-Cortez did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
President Donald Trump's administration is appealing a ruling blocking him from immediately firing Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook as he seeks more control over the traditionally independent board. The notice of appeal was filed Wednesday, hours after U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb handed down the ruling. The White House insists the Republican president had the right to fire Cook over mortgage fraud allegations involving properties in Michigan and Georgia from before she joined the Fed. Cook's lawsuit denies the allegations and says the firing was unlawful. The case could soon reach the Supreme Court, which has allowed Trump to fire members of other independent agencies but suggested that power has limitations at the Fed.
Chief Justice John Roberts has let President Donald Trump remove a member of the Federal Trade Commission, the latest in a string of high-profile firings allowed for now by the Supreme Court.
President Donald Trump has fired one of two Democratic members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to break a 2-2 tie ahead of the board considering the largest railroad merger ever proposed.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook's lawyer says she'll sue President Donald Trump's administration to try to prevent him from firing her. Longtime Washington attorney Abbe Lowell said Tuesday that Trump “has no authority to remove” Cook. If Trump succeeds in removing Cook from the Fed's board of governors, it could erode the Fed’s political independence, which is considered critical to its ability to fight inflation because it enables the Fed to take unpopular steps like raising interest rates. The Republican president said Monday he was removing Cook because of allegations she committed mortgage fraud. Cook was appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden in 2022 and says she won't step down.
Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook late Wednesday said she wouldn’t leave her post after Trump on social media called on her to resign over an accusation from one his officials that she committed mortgage fraud.
Politico's Marcia Brown breaks down the MAHA draft roadmap: industry-friendly, light on regulation, heavy on research and voluntary food policy changes.
