Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell decided to see if Democrats were willing to put their money where their mouths are by bringing the ‘Green New Deal’ for a vote in the Senate.
Democrats, who knew all along that it would fail, angrily called McConnell’s move a stunt.
FOX News reports:
Green New Deal fails Senate test vote as dozens of Democrats vote ‘present’
The Green New Deal, a sweeping Democratic proposal for dealing with climate change, fell at the first hurdle Tuesday as the Senate failed to reach the 60 votes necessary to begin debate on the non-binding resolution, with 42 Democrats and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., voting “present.”
No senator voted to begin debate on the legislation, while 57 lawmakers voted against breaking the filibuster. Democratic Sens. Doug Jones of Alabama, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona joined 53 Republicans in voting “no.” Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, who caucuses with the Democrats, also voted “no.”
The vote had been teed up by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in a bid to make Democratic senators — including several 2020 presidential candidates — go on the record about the measure. McConnell had called the proposal “a radical, top-down, socialist makeover of the entire U.S. economy.”
Check out some of the tweets from Democrats below:
Today's #GreenNewDeal vote is a partisan stunt to side-step needed debate on climate action, and give Republicans cover to put oil lobby checks over our kids. I've come to expect nothing less from @senatemajldr.
I'll be voting "present." I don't play ball with bad-faith farces.
— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) March 26, 2019
Senate Republicans are playing political games with climate change. We should not be wasting our time with fake votes & cynical stunts. The Republican majority must stop denying science and finally admit that climate change is real. Time is not on our side.
— Kamala Harris (@SenKamalaHarris) March 26, 2019
Warren voted present but wrote this on Twitter:
Heading to the Senate floor to state a simple scientific fact: climate change is a global crisis, not a political game. Tune in to hear why I support a #GreenNewDeal that will aggressively tackle climate change, economic inequality, and racial injustice. https://t.co/6uVOyZoX3T
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) March 26, 2019
Over the past six weeks, we’ve engaged in more debate about climate change than we have over the previous ten years. We cannot and will not allow this debate to be cut short by Republican political games. We are just getting started. Because now is the era of the #GreenNewDeal.
— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) March 26, 2019
They’re such frauds.
This is the best:
"im not owned! im not owned!!" pic.twitter.com/9b74e6HDBK
— Team Mitch (@Team_Mitch) March 26, 2019
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