SALT LAKE CITY – Wednesday night, Democrat Joe Biden's running mate Kamala Harris will surely be asked her opinion on Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez' radical Leftist environmental plan called the "Green New Deal." Senator Harris (D-CA) will be forced to support it, as she is listed as a US Senate co-sponsor of the plan.
However, Biden publicly has stated he does not support AOC's Green New Deal. He does, however, list an array of similar ideas on his website, as Chris Talgo, an editor at Illinois-based Heartland Institute, wrote in a recent Townhall.com column:
- “Ensure the U.S. achieves a 100% clean energy economy and reaches net-zero emissions no later than 2050.”
- “On day one, Biden will make smart infrastructure investments to rebuild the nation and to ensure that our buildings, water, transportation, and energy infrastructure can withstand the impacts of climate change.”
- “He will not only recommit the United States to the Paris Agreement on climate change – he will go much further than that.”
- “The Biden plan will make a historic investment in our clean energy future and environmental justice, paid for by rolling back the Trump tax incentives that enrich corporations at the expense of American jobs and the environment.”
- “Biden will set a target of reducing the carbon footprint of the U.S. building stock 50% by 2035, creating incentives for deep retrofits that combine appliance electrification, efficiency, and on-site clean power generation.”
- “Make climate change a core national security priority.”
With a Democrat-controlled US House and possibly a Democrat-controlled US Senate, whoever is in the Oval Office may be forced to consider his position on the Green New Deal.
"For now, Joe Biden is walking on a political tight rope," Talgo writes. "On one hand, he is trying to appeal to moderate Democrats and independents by trying to portray himself as middle-of-the-road. On the other hand, he needs to retain the support of his party’s increasingly powerful far-Left flank, which fully support the Green New Deal and several other socialistic proposals.
"The $50,000 question is: If Biden wins, which version will occupy the White House, the moderate or the radical?"