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 says a deal struck by Netflix last week to buy Warner Bros. Discovery “could be a problem” because of the size of the combined market share. The Republican president says he will be involved in the decision about whether federal regulators should approve the deal. Trump commented Sunday when he was asked about the deal as he walked the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors. The $72 billion deal would bring together two of the biggest players in television and film and potentially reshape the entertainment industry.
Real estate software company RealPage has agreed to stop sharing nonpublic information between landlords as part of a settlement with the Department of Justice.
A legislative package to end the government shutdown appears on track. A handful of Senate Democrats joined with Republicans to advance the bill after what's become a deepening disruption of federal programs and services. But hurdles remain. Senators are hopeful they can pass the package as soon as Monday and send it to the House. What’s in and out of the bipartisan deal has drawn criticism and leaves few senators fully satisfied. The legislation includes funding for SNAP food aid and other programs while ensuring backpay for furloughed federal workers. But it fails to fund expiring health care subsidies Democrats have been fighting for, pushing that debate off for a vote next month.
Sabrina Siddiqui, National Politics Reporter at The Wall Street Journal, joins to break down the SNAP funding delays and the human cost of the ongoing shutdown.
Arguments at the Supreme Court have concluded for the day as the justices consider President Donald Trump's sweeping unilateral tariffs in a trillion-dollar test of executive power.
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday for a second time this year as it seeks to shore up economic growth and hiring even as inflation stays elevated. The move comes amid a fraught time for the central bank, with hiring sluggish and yet inflation stuck above the Fed’s 2% target. Compounding its challenges, the central bank is navigating without much of the economic data it typically relies on from the government. The Fed has signaled it may reduce its key rate again in December but the data drought raises the uncertainty around its next moves. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that there were “strongly differing views” at the central bank's policy meeting about to proceed going forward.
U.S. and Chinese officials say a trade deal between the world’s two largest economies is drawing closer. The sides have reached an initial consensus for President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to aim to finalize during their high-stakes meeting Thursday in South Korea. Any agreement would be a relief to international markets. Trump's treasury secretary says discussions with China yielded preliminary agreements to stop the precursor chemicals for fentanyl from coming into the United States. Scott Bessent also says Beijing would make “substantial” purchases of soybean and other agricultural products while putting off export controls on rare earth elements needed for advanced technologies.
