Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday he will hold a vote on the progressives' Green New Deal — and looks forward to members going on record to support a plan the GOP has lambasted as unacceptably radical, Politico reported.
"I've noted with great interest the Green New Deal and we're going to be voting on that in the Senate," McConnell said. "We'll give everybody a chance to go on record and see how they feel about the Green New Deal."
The resolution calls for a 10-year "national mobilization" to move the U.S. economy off fossil fuels, provide healthcare for all, increase wages, and expand union rights.
Introduced by freshman Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., it has gotten some lip service from presidential hopefuls in the Senate, including Sens. Kamala Harris D-Calif., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Cory Booker, D-N.J.
McConnell did not provide a voting timetable, Politico reported.
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, however, called the plan "raw deal" that would drive "a stake into the heart of our economy," Politico reported.
"It is way out of the mainstream of the American public to the point that it is scary," Barrasso said. "It is that radical. It is a bad deal for the American public."