The national politics continues to dominate the headlines and conversation and Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez revitalized the battle over her signature legislature, the Green New Deal, telling conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg Thursday “It does not have a price tag or CBO score and costs us $0 if passed.”
The exchange began with this: “If only there were some public fund billionaires could pay into along with everyone else that helps fund our infrastructure, hospitals, and public systems all at once. It could even be a modest % of what they earn every year. We could have an agency collect it and everything”
If only there were some public fund billionaires could pay into along with everyone else that helps fund our infrastructure, hospitals, and public systems all at once.
It could even be a modest % of what they earn every year. We could have an agency collect it and everything https://t.co/g0vI45xnYG
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 13, 2020
Goldberg responded before AOC answered: “Man this is so dumb and dishonest. You could confiscate every penny held by every billionaire and multimillionaire in America and it wouldn’t cover a fraction of your Green New Deal fantasy. https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1260678597666275328 …”
“Hey there! Totally get it if you’ve never bothered to read the legislation you’re commenting so authoritatively on. The Green New Deal is a non-binding resolution of values. It does not have a price tag or CBO score and costs us $0 if passed.”
Hey there! Totally get it if you’ve never bothered to read the legislation you’re commenting so authoritatively on.
The Green New Deal is a non-binding resolution of values. It does not have a price tag or CBO score and costs us $0 if passed.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 14, 2020
The essence of her defense is that the legislature is non-binding and not enforcement, a justification which created more buzz and attacks.
“This may be the most disingenuous tweet ever,” wrote Manhattan Institute fellow Brian Reidl. “She’s saying ‘my legislation calling for a massive, WWII-size Green New Deal is actually free to taxpayers — because calling for anything is just words, and words are free…we wouldn’t do any of this.’”
“The best defense @AOC could conjure up for her #GreenNewDisaster is that it’s actually useless,” wrote one Twitter user.
“So it’s just Legislative Virtue Signaling? How appropriate for your most famous accomplishment,” wrote another.
Competitive Enterprise Institute published a report claiming that the costs for households in Colorado, Michigan and Pennsylvania would be an average of between $74,287 and $76,683.
The CEI is described as a “non-profit libertarian think tank founded by political writer Fred L. Smith Jr. back in 1984. Common topics are “topics such as antitrust law, environmental regulation, and the economic impacts of global warming.”
