The Labor Network for Sustainability Outlines How to Make the Green New Deal Work
The Labor Network for Sustainability has released “18 Strategies for a Green New Deal: How to Make a Climate Mobilization Work,” a paper intended to “stimulate discussion of the Green New Deal among labor, environmental, progressive, policy, and justice constituencies.” The paper, authored by LNS Research and Policy Director Jeremy Brecher, details 18 strategies for implementing the Green New Deal resolution’s broad goals, organized in three parts:
- Establish Green New Deal mobilization agencies
- Use regulatory powers to freeze, phase-out, and replace all fossil fuel infrastructure
- Use government to plan the transition
- Establish Green New Deal agencies for reorganizing economic sectors
- Use government to reshape the market
- Use the tools of macroeconomic policy
- Use the powers of government to rectify past and present injustices
- Protect low-income energy consumers
- Empower community-led initiatives
- Democratize democracy
- Leave no worker behind
- Guarantee jobs for all
- Ensure workers rights and good union jobs
- Capture the benefits of the transition to fossil free energy
- Make the polluters pay
- Cut wasteful and unnecessary spending
- Mobilize investment
- Support and fund a Global Green New Deal
The mission of the Labor Network for Sustainability is to engage workers and communities in building a transition to a society that is ecologically sustainable and economically just.
Green New Deal Resolution Now Has 95 Co-Sponsors
The Green New Deal resolution, H.Res. 109/S.Res. 59, picked up 18 more co-sponsors as of this Wednesday (with committee assignments):
- Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA-14), Armed Services
- Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA-15)
- Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA-19), House Administration Chair
- Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-CA-20), Agriculture, Ways & Means
- Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-CA-32)
- Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA-37)
- Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA-38), Ways & Means
- Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-CA-44), Energy & Commerce
- Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL-07), Ways & Means
- Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA-05), Appropriations
- Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD-03), Energy & Commerce
- Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD-07), Oversight & Reform Chair
- Rep. William Lacy Clay (D-MO-04)
- Rep. David Price (D-NC-04), Appropriations
- Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY-03), Ways & Means
- Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY-17), Appropriations Chair
- Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA-03), Education & Labor Chair
- Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA-09), Armed Services Chair
The updated list of co-sponsors is below.
Green New Deal Resolution Picks Up Six More Co-Sponsors
- Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA-34)
- Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO-02), member of the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis
- Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-MA-04)
- Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY-07)
- Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY-09)
- Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI-01)
The updated list of co-sponsors is below.
Green New Deal Resolution Launches With 61 Representatives, 13 Senators as Co-Sponsors
Following Thursday’s announcement of the Green New Deal Ocasio-Markey resolution, supporters have announced several dozen co-sponsors, including 61 members of the House of Representatives (two non-voting) and 9 U.S. senators.
The list, from Justice Democrats, is below:
FULL TEXT: Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Markey Release Green New Deal Resolution
In front of the U.S. Capitol building, Rep. Alexandrio Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) today announced the introduction of resolution “recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal” that builds a just, full-employment economy to stop global warming.
The resolution now has 64 original co-sponsors in the House and 9 in the Senate.
The full text of the resolution (PDF) is below:
Democrats Announce Members of Select Committee on the Climate Crisis
Rep. Kathy Castor (Fla.), chair of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, has announced the Democratic members: Reps. Ben Ray Luján (N.M.), Suzanne Bonamici (Ore.), Julia Brownley (Calif.), Sean Casten (Ill.), Jared Huffman (Calif.), Mike Levin (Calif.), Donald McEachin (Va.) and Joe Neguse (Colo.).
Luján is by far the biggest recipient among the committee of fossil-fuel dollars. He received $159,600 in campaign contributions from oil & gas, mining, chemical, electric utilities, and other energy interests in the last election cycle. Over his career, he has received $386,150 from oil & gas and electric utility companies and their employees. As Assistant Democratic Leader, he is now the number four Democrat in the House.
New Climate Committee Chair: Priorities Include Fuel Economy, Flood Insurance
“We are in a race against time,” Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), the incoming chair of the new Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, told reporters. In an interview with USA Today’s Ledyard King, Castor highlighted not just the urgency of the climate crisis but also her interest in pursuing new fuel economy standards and flood insurance reform, practical policy problems that have remained stalled under the Republican Congress and Trump administration.
While not enforcing a band on fossil-fuel contributions for members of the committee, Castor has pledged that she will not accept such donations as chair to “help build confidence in the committee.”
Castor’s plans come in the context of the vigorous push by youth climate activists and new members of Congress for an ambitious Green New Deal, that arguably would build on elements of President Obama’s economic stimulus package of 2009.
“There’s some fabulous proposals in the Green New Deal, and I’m excited about all that. You may see some similar language. Clearly, the focuses are going to be the same,” Castor told The Hill. “This will be a committee clearly in the spirit of the Green New Deal.”
“People don’t understand how forward-leaning the stimulus was on climate issues,” Castor told Michael Grunwald in a Politico interview. “It’s a road map for a Green New Deal.”
More highlights of Rep. Castor’s interview with The Hill’s Timothy Cama:“I’m hoping that folks will come to this committee ready to take on the corporate polluters and special interests. There shouldn’t be a purity test, that if a member of Congress has ever accepted contributions,” she said.Castor said she has decided not to take any donations from fossil fuel companies.
“I think me saying that right now will help build confidence in the committee,” she said, noting that such a pledge won’t be a “huge sacrifice,” since she has received just about $2,000 in campaign donations from the oil and natural gas industries during 12 years in office.
Democratic House Likely To Rekindle ExxonKnew Investigations
With both houses of Congress under a Republican majority, investigating the malfeasance of the oil industry has not been a priority. Instead, Republicans have held hearings investigating the officials who are investigating the oil industry.
However, with the House moving to Democratic control, Congressional oversight will become a renewed priority. That primarily involves overseeing the work of the Executive Branch, but also includes corporate behavior of national interest.
The “ExxonKnew” controversy is the evidence that Exxon and other oil majors knew for decades that their products cause dangerous global warming but decided to run a disinformation and political interference campaign to avoid regulation of their pollution.
A leading Congressman in calling for investigation is Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) who repeatedly called for Congressional investigations in 2016. However, he is not currently on the committees with jurisdiction (that could change in the new year).
Another is Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), a former attorney for NRDC, who sits on the Natural Resources Committee and Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, both of which potentially have oversight jurisdiction.
Another potential leader on this is Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), the incoming chair of the Science Oversight subcommittee, who has spoken out in support of actions by state attorneys general to investigate Exxon.
19 No Fossil Fuel Money Freshmen Join U.S. Congress
Nineteen members-elect of the U.S. House of Representatives took the No Fossil Fuel Money pledge, refusing to accept campaign contributions from the fossil-fuel industry and running on a climate-justice platform. The freshmen No Fossil Fuel Money class is remarkably diverse, in terms of race, gender, geography, and district partisanship.
| Katie Hill | CA-25 |
| Harley Rouda | CA-48 |
| Mike Levin | CA-49 |
| Debbie Mucarsel-Powell | FL-26 |
| Jesus “Chuy” Garcia | IL-04 |
| Ayanna Pressley | MA-07 |
| Andy Levin | MI-09 |
| Rashida Tlaib | MI-13 |
| Dean Phillips | MN-03 |
| Ilhan Omar | MN-05 |
| Chris Pappas | NH-01 |
| Debra A. Haaland | NM-01 |
| Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez | NY-14 |
| Madeleine Dean | PA-04 |
| Mary Gay Scanlon | PA-05 |
| Susan Wild | PA-07 |
| Elaine Luria | VA-02 |
| Jennifer Wexton | VA-10 |
| Kim Schrier | WA-08 |
In Senate Testimony, Kavanaugh Implicated Georgetown Prep 'Friends' For Alcohol-Related 'Trouble'
During the third day of Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing, Sen. Kennedy (R-La.) questioned Kavanaugh about “getting into trouble” at the elite all-boys school Georgetown Prep, eliciting nervous laughter.
Dodging the question, Kavanaugh told Kennedy that at Georgetown Prep, “I had a lot of friends, I’ve talked a lot about my friends. And they’ve been here. So it was very formative.”
When Kennedy pressed his question about “trouble,” Kavanaugh replied, “That’s encompassed by the friends, I think.”
Kennedy concluded by saying he’s decided to not ask Kavanaugh whether his underage friends were “sneaking a few beers past Jesus.” Kavanaugh shook his head, said “Hey,” and giggled again in response to a comment not caught by the microphone.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) took the microphone, saying, “I for one am grateful for the senator’s self-restraint.”
It is unknown what motivated Kennedy’s questions at the time, although Kavanaugh’s close friend and classmate Mike G. Judge recorded in his book Wasted the binge drinking that dominated those years at Georgetown Prep. Similarly, Kavanaugh’s yearbook entry made repeated references to keg parties and vomiting.
After the hearing, it was revealed that professor Christine Blasey Ford had informed members of Congress that Kavanaugh and Judge had sexually assaulted her while they were all in high school.
Full transcript: