On Thursday, we scored an incredible victory when all the Presidential candidates in the Senate came out as vocal supporters of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal resolution (1). That is a huge success that wasn’t even thinkable a few months ago. In total, 68 Representatives and 12 Senators co-sponsored the Green New Deal resolution — a stunning show of our movement’s power.
But the fossil fuel billionaires are already working in Congress to kill our momentum. They want the public to think this plan is impossible, and they will try to bog down the process with backroom deals, and cynical attacks.
Leaders in both parties are already getting to work. Nancy Pelosi mocked the resolution before it was even out, referring to it as “the green dream or whatever they call it (2).” Even though nearly a third of her caucus backed the resolution before it was even released, she doesn’t plan to bring it to a vote. Republicans leader are calling the plan “impossible (3).”
This week, we have hundreds of office visits already scheduled to demand our Senators and Representatives back the Green New Deal. Find one near you on the map, or host your own.
To make sure the fossil fuel billionaires can’t slow our momentum, we need to do two thing these next few weeks:
1) Get a majority of House Democrats to co-sponsor the resolution. That means winning over 51 more Democrats. If we do this, we can ensure that the Green New Deal will be a priority for 2019 and 2020, and put immense pressure on Pelosi to stop blocking progress.
2) Put all politicians on notice — Democrats and Republicans. We need to make it clear to them that there will be a cost if they choose to put the wealth of fossil fuel CEOs above the lives of our generation. We aren’t going to get everyone on board, but there are some representatives who will think twice about falling in line with the fossil fuel lobby’s plans to attack the Green New Deal if they are feeling the pressure from their constituents. Even if we just neutralize potential opponents, that’s a huge win.
That begins this week when we will show up at hundreds of offices to deliver our message loud and clear: back the Green New Deal, or we’ll be back to expose you for putting the interests of your fossil fuel billionaire donors ahead of your constituents.
Join what could be our biggest coordinated action ever, and keep up the momentum for a Green New Deal.
Last week was incredible. Seeing some of the most powerful politicians in America back the most ambitious economic transformation in generations and knowing that our movement made this possible was amazing. But what’s more exciting is that I know that we’re just getting started.
1: Vox, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is making the Green New Deal a 2020 litmus test
2: The New York Times, Liberal Democrats Formally Call for a ‘Green New Deal,’ Giving Substance to a Rallying Cry
3: HuffPost, The Republican Assault On The Green New Deal Begins
