Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) said Thursday that her proposed Green New Deal would not be financed through a "massive government takeover."
"I think one way that the right does try to mischaracterize what we're doing as though it's like some kind of massive government takeover," Ocasio-Cortez said on MSNBC's "MTP Daily." "Obviously it's not that because what we're trying to do is release the investments from the federal government to mobilize those resources across the country."
Ocasio-Cortez went on to explain that the deal's rollout could take the form of public programs similar to the Tennessee Valley Authority, created in former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's original New Deal, as well as "public-private partnerships" and programs that "can work on a municipal level."
"It's not as though the federal government will wave a wand and say, 'We're going to do it ourselves,'" Ocasio-Cortez said.
The freshman congresswoman went on to criticize the Republican tax overhaul that President Donald Trump signed into law in late 2017, saying that her program would create more wealth.
"We know that for every dollar you cut in taxes you get just a couple cents back," she said. "But for every dollar that you invest in infrastructure, in building, in jobs, you get more than a dollar back."
Ocasio-Cortez released the proposal for her Green New Deal on Thursday. The plan contains several progressive goals, such as health care for all, and seeks to improve or replace all buildings in America to be energy efficient, as well as make train travel more important than air travel. Her resolution has the backing of Democratic Sens. Kamala Harris (Calif.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), and Cory Booker (N.J.)—all 2020 presidential hopefuls. Booker co-sponsored the plan.
The resolution has also received criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike. When asked about the plan to replace planes with trains, Sen. Mazie Hirono (D., Hawaii) laughed at the idea, saying it would be impractical, Fox News reported.
"That would be pretty hard for Hawaii," she said.