AOC KNOCKS BETO’S CLIMATE PLAN: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said Democratic presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke’s new climate plan isn’t aggressive enough.
O’Rourke’s plan, which he released Monday, calls for getting to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, but Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal calls for doing so by 2030.
“Personally, I think we need to have more aggressive timelines than that to be honest,” she told The Hill.
“I think that the science and the IPCC [report] shows exactly what we need, and our legislation needs to be in line with that,” she added, referring to the climate assessment from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
O’Rourke did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Ocasio-Cortez is not alone in calling for a faster timeline to combat climate change. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a fellow 2020 Democratic candidate, argued that O’Rourke didn’t do enough to fight climate change while in Congress, and The Sunrise Movement, a youth climate organization that backs the Green New Deal, said the former Texas congressman should stick to the 2030 timeline required by the resolution.
Climate change is increasingly becoming a top issue for Democratic voters and a trio of environmental groups also announced Monday that they are hoping to raise $1 million for the future Democratic nominee through a “Beat Trump Presidential Climate Unity Fund.”
Ocasio-Cortez said Republicans have put themselves in a difficult political situation when it comes to dealing with climate change.
Basically this is AOC to Beto.
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CLIMATE CHANGE IS TOP ISSUE FOR REGISTERED DEMS: Climate change action is the top issue for Democratic voters, according to a new national poll out Tuesday.
The CNN poll found that 82 percent of registered voters who identified as Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents listed climate change as a “very important” top priority they’d like to see get the focus of a presidential candidate.
The issue was trailed by government-provided universal health care at 75 percent, and executive action on stricter gun control measures at 65 percent. Impeaching President Trump ranked fifth on the list of priorities for Democratic voters at 43 percent.
Why it’s important: The poll is the first national survey to show climate change rising to the top of the ranks among issues Democrats plan to focus on in the 2020 election.
March polling of likely Democratic Iowa caucus goers found that climate change was the No. 2 issue respondents wanted to hear candidates spend “a lot” of time talking about. Eighty percent of respondents to that poll listed climate change as the top issue while health care edged as the top concern with 81 percent.
Only 14 percent of Republican voters in the same poll listed climate change as a major threat.
Environmentalists have made strides in recent elections to link the effects of global warming and human and health. Recent super storms, historical fires and prevalent drought have helped push climate change to the forefront as a visible threat.
DEMS LACK UNIFIED PLAN ON PARIS CLIMATE BILL: The House this week is expected to pass its first major climate-focused bill in almost 10 years, but some Democrats say the party is failing to put its best foot forward on an issue they consider a top priority requiring urgent action.
The measure, which the House is expected to pass Thursday along party lines, would bind the Trump administration to the carbon-cutting goals of the 2015 Paris climate agreement — the international accord that the president vowed to withdraw the U.S. from almost two years ago.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has said the Climate Action Now Act shows Democrats are “taking first strong steps to protect our planet and our future.”
The catch: Unlike almost every other high-profile bill, though, no Democratic senator has introduced a companion measure, suggesting more disunity after the divisive Green New Deal championed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), the bill’s sponsor and chairwoman of the House Select Committee on Climate Crisis, told The Hill she was at a loss for why Senate Democrats haven’t been involved.
“I wish I could shed more light on the operations of the U.S. Senate — it confounds all of us on the House side,” Castor said.
Senate leaders on the environment front have not stepped forward to introduce that chamber’s version of the bill, H.R. 9.
Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), the ranking member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, said in a statement to The Hill he agreed it’s imperative that the U.S. commit to the Paris climate accord, but he didn’t comment on why he isn’t sponsoring a similar bill in the Senate.
“The reality is that we do not have time to wait for President Trump and other climate deniers to come to their senses, we must instead work now in Congress to realize the changes needed to protect our planet for generations to come,” he said.
The House legislation has 224 co-sponsors — all Democrats.
But some Democrats are hesitant to highlight its likely passage as a major achievement.
Lawmakers have held about 17 climate-related hearings since Democrats took control of the House in January, yet discussions over what form climate legislation should take have led to tension within the party.
Progressives have expressed their preference for comprehensive legislation that would lead to the creation of a green economy and include climate mitigation efforts, similar to the Green New Deal, while more moderate members favor smaller measures that they argue have a better chance of making it through Congress.
Critics say Castor’s bill is neither.
Read more here on the Democratic divide.
ON TAP TOMORROW:
The House Natural Resources subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife will hold a hearing Wednesday on the state of fisheries management.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s subcommittee on oversight and investigations will look into the Department of Energy’s mountaintop cleanup costs.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s energy subcommittee will also look into the state of pipeline safety and security in the U.S.
OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY:
-America’s renewable energy set to surpass coal for the first month ever, CNN reports
-Wine is contributing to climate change, The New York Times reports.
-Idaho, Utah seek to defend Trump drilling plan law, The Associated Press reports
ICYMI:
Stories from Tuesday…
-Ocasio-Cortez says O’Rourke’s new climate plan not aggressive enough
-GAO to review if climate change hinders military contractors’ response to national security threats
-Poll: Climate change is top issue for registered Democrats
-Green groups launch the ‘Beat Trump Presidential Climate Unity Fund’
-Inside California’s fight against pollution
-Dems lack unified plan for pushing Paris climate bill
-Indonesia to relocate capital from sinking Jakarta
-House Republican plans discharge petition on Green New Deal
-Inslee hits O’Rourke: ‘He did not lead on climate change in Congress’
-Interior is processing offshore oil permits despite drilling pause