The Green New Deal: A Political Blunder

Walking into a Lose-Lose Situation

There's been a lot of talk recently about the "Green New Deal," sponsored by Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez in the House and by Ed Markey in the Senate. Indeed, it has become one of the most recognizable (if not the most recognizable) policy proposals by the Democratic Party. While well-intentioned with the goals of alleviating income inequality and climate change, it has been oft-criticized as financially unfeasible and "a socialist fantasy."

On March 26th, the man who said described the Green New Deal as "a socialist fantasy," Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, delivered a politically masterful play. He brought the Green New Deal to a vote on the Senate floor.

Why would the Republican Senate Majority Leader demand a vote on a Democratic piece of legislation? Because he knows and he knows that his Democratic colleagues know that the Green New Deal, in its current form, is embarrassingly untenable. McConnell was very explicit in his intentions, saying, "I could not be more glad that the American people will have the opportunity to learn precisely where each one of their senators stand on this radical, top-down, socialist makeover of the entire US economy. Every American taxpayer will get to learn if their senators support saddling our nation with the astronomical cost of this socialist fantasy -- tens and tens of trillions of dollars, a tax burden that would be certain to hurt not just wealthy Americans but the middle class as well." Thus, by forcing a vote, McConnell puts Democratic Senators in a lose-lose situation with the 2020 elections on the horizon: either vote for the bill and forever tie yourself to an embarrassingly untenable position, or vote against your own Party's signature piece of legislation.

The Democrats, to their credit, made the most of a bad situation and instead all voted "present" on the bill — still not the best look but definitely better than the choices I just listed. The final results looked like this: McConnell "defeated consideration of the plan 57-0, winning over three Democratic senators and one independent who caucuses with the Democrats."

This is pretty revealing and scores as a big political win for Republicans. Not only did the Republicans win over some Democrats on this vote, it also puts the Democrats in a precarious spot. Senate Democrats have demonstrated that they are unwilling to be tied to the Green New Deal in even a symbolic way. There were even 12 co-sponsors of the bill in the Senate, and not a single one of the co-sponsors even voted for their own bill. They could only find a limited degree of solace in the fact that they did not have to outright reject the bill, voting "present" instead.

For many weeks now, voices on the left have touted the Green New Deal as positively revolutionary (it's even intentionally named after the New Deal). Many Senate Democrats have even spoken out publicly in favor of the bill. Today, their true feelings about the bill were unveiled. All of those Democrats who made rousing speeches in favor of the Green New Deal ended up voting present. If the Green New Deal were really so good, then why is no Democrat willing to go near it, instead avoiding it like the plague. The "present" votes of Tuesday are testaments to the true quality of the proposal. If the deal were actually good, Democratic Senators wouldn't mind being tied to it. Overall, it's a bad look for Senate Democrats, and the WSJ Editorial Board sums it up pretty well: "The real stunt is the Green New Deal. Democrats want to be seen as doing something about climate change without being accountable for the cost of their ideas."

Or perhaps, maybe they all read my piece and were inspired to distance themselves from the Green New Deal.