Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, defended his Tuesday arguments on the Senate floor against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's signature Green New Deal, saying Wednesday he was trying to "have a little fun" while bringing attention to a "very serious issue."
"She has proposed something that I think would be horrible for the American economy," Sen. Lee told Fox News' "Fox & Friends." "She has proposed something that isn't itself serious. It's so unserious, in fact, that not a single Democrat wanted to vote in favor of it [Tuesday], and as many as four Democrats in the Senate voted against it. The others simply voted present."
As the Senate debated Ocasio-Cortez' extensive environmental proposal Tuesday, Lee said the "real solution" to climate change is for people to couple up and have more babies, because "more people mean bigger markets for innovation."
He also showed a series of posters, including one of Aquaman on a seahorse and saying that would be Hawaii's "best bet" under the Green New Deal.
Ocasio-Cortez slammed Lee on Twitter after his speech, but he defended his theories.
"A lot of the authors of the Green New Deal proposal are trying to suggest that people should not have babies, and I think that's atrocious," Lee said Wednesday. "I'm glad that she sees me as a source of inspiration for whatever it is she is trying to do, as strongly as I might disagree with what she is trying to do."
He added the United States is already one of the world's leaders, if not the top country, on cleaning up the environment and lowering emissions.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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