Sen. Ed Markey (D., Mass.) railed against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R., Ky.) decision to call the Green New Deal resolution to a vote, legislation he co-sponsored along with freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.).
"Don’t let Mitch McConnell fool you: this is nothing but an attempt to sabotage the movement we are building. He wants to silence your voice so Republicans don’t have to explain why they are climate change deniers. McConnell wants this to be the end, this is just the beginning," Markey wrote Tuesday.
Don’t let Mitch McConnell fool you: this is nothing but an attempt to sabotage the movement we are building. He wants to silence your voice so Republicans don’t have to explain why they are climate change deniers. McConnell wants this to be the end, this is just the beginning. https://t.co/GUxJ5HG2jb
— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) February 12, 2019
Markey wrote in a follow-up tweet, warning Senate Democrats "This isn't a new Republican trick. By rushing a vote on the #GreenNewDeal resolution, Republicans want to avoid a true national debate & kill our efforts to organize. We’re having the first national conversation on climate change in a decade. We can’t let Republicans sabotage it."
When Markey introduced the deal, he said he looked forward to elevating climate change to "the highest of Congressional priorities."
"The sun is setting on the dirty energy of the past. Today marks the dawn of a new era of climate action," he said. "A Green New Deal is about jobs, and it is about justice. It would be the greatest blue-collar jobs program in a generation and repair the historic oppression of frontline and vulnerable communities that have born the worst burdens of our fossil fuel economy, all while saving the planet."
McConnell stated Tuesday afternoon that he's been following the media focus on the Green New Deal and wanted "to give everybody an opportunity to go on record" in the Senate.
Nearly all of the Democratic senators running for president have thrown their support behind the Green New Deal, but the bill does not enjoy the same success among the rest of Democratic senators, with only 11 of 47 supporting the deal, according to a report from CNBC. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) seemed to downplay the deal, referring to the bill as a "green dream."