WASHINGTON — The GOP Senate could hold a procedural vote as early as Tuesday on the Green New Deal proposed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as Republicans seek to put Democrats on the record on the ambitious plan.
The measure will require 60 votes to advance and is expected to fail, both because Republicans hold the majority in the Senate and because many Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., are expected to vote present in protest of what they call an openly political show-vote. It’s possible the vote could slip to Wednesday.
Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., along with Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., introduced the resolution in February. It calls for a complete transition to renewable energy by 2030 and eliminate greenhouse gas emissions.
Republican congressional leaders have criticized the Green New Deal, arguing that it would devastate the economy. GOP lawmakers are hoping that the vote will put Democrats in a tough spot politically, especially those up for re-election or running for president in 2020.
Some of its Senate co-sponsors include Democratic presidential contenders Kamala Harris of California, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.
"The proposal we are talking about is, frankly, delusional,” McConnell said on the Senate floor this month. “It is so unserious that it ought to be beneath one of our two major political parties to line up behind it.”
