Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., NY) credited America's enemies, including Syria, North Korea, and Iran, for doing more to combat climate change than the United States during a speech on the Senate floor on Thursday.
"They're taking their lead from the president, a man who is so willfully ignorant and foolish that he thinks he's clever by ridiculing the global scientific consensus on climate change whenever it snows," Schumer said about Republican lawmakers. "Well, the American people are not laughing. They weren't laughing when a U.S. Senator brought a snowball to the floor of this chamber to mock climate science. They weren't laughing when President Trump called climate change a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese."
"The rest of the world isn't laughing either, not when basically every country in the world, including Syria, North Korea, Iran are working together to reduce carbon emissions while the Trump administration has forced the United States to sit on the sidelines," Schumer continued.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R., Ky.) announced earlier this week that the Senate will vote on the Green New Deal resolution. The legislation was introduced by Sen. Ed Markey (D., Mass.) and freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.). Markey complained about McConnell allowing his resolution to be voted on and said McConnell was trying to "sabotage" the environmental movement.
Schumer appeared to relish the opportunity to vote on the plan and told McConnell to "bring it on" and bring the Green New Deal resolution up for a vote.
In December, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg said the United States is meeting the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, despite no longer being part of the deal. As part of the deal, the U.S. had pledged to cut its carbon emissions by 26-28 percent and provide $3 billion in aid to developing countries.
Last week, framers of the Green New Deal released a summary of their goals for drastically reshaping America's economy and energy system. The proposal called for "economic security for all who are unable or unwilling to work" and building "out high- speed rail at a scale where air travel stops becoming necessary."