AOC Reveals What’s Inside The Democrats’ Infrastructure Trojan Horse

Democrats Are Concocting A Massive Spending Bill Sold As An Infrastructure Plan That Actually Intends ‘To Reshape The U.S. Economy And Other Parts Of American Life,’ Which Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ‘Likened … To Her Green New Deal Plan’ And Lauded As ‘A Trillion-Dollar Opportunity’

 THE NEW YORK TIMES: “[President Biden’s] advisers are preparing a set of proposals intended to reshape the U.S. economy and other parts of American life…. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told The Times’s Lisa Friedman that she was encouraged by what she had heard about the infrastructure policies and likened them to her Green New Deal plan.” (“Biden’s Big Plan,” The New York Times, 3/23/2021)

• REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): “One of the big goals we had when we introduced the Green New Deal was to show how people thought about climate change from being a billion dollar problem to a trillion-dollar opportunity…. This infrastructure package generally seems to be shaping up in that kind of framework.” (“Biden’s Big Plan,” The New York Times, 3/23/2021)

“The Biden administration’s next big legislative push is starting to take shape. It’s generally described as an infrastructure package, but that’s a bit of a misnomer. What the White House is planning covers not just building stuff like roads and bridges, but all of the structural economic changes on which President Joe Biden campaigned.” (“Breaking Down Biden’s Opening Gambit On Infrastructure,” Politico’s Playbook, 3/23/2021)

• “The infrastructure component is expected to include $400 billion in spending to combat climate change, including $60 billion for infrastructure related to green transit and $46 billion for climate-related research and development. The plan also would aim to make electric-vehicle charging stations available across the country.” (“White House Prepares Massive Infrastructure Bill With Universal Pre-K, Free Community College, Climate Measures,” The Washington Post, 3/22/2021)

‘It’s Gonna Be A Kitchen Sink’

REP. JOHN YARMUTH (D-KY): “It’s gonna be a kitchen sink.” (“Drug Pricing, Climate, Immigration: House Dems Eye ‘Kitchen Sink’ For Next Big Bill,” Politico, 3/19/2021)

• “Less than two weeks after President Joe Biden signed into law one of Congress’ most expansive measures in decades, House Democratic leaders are already dreaming bigger…. [T]op House Democrats are eyeing ways to muscle through drug pricing and climate policy goals using [the Senate’s reconciliation process]…. House Democrats are in discussions about including two of the caucus’ signature bills — one, a drug pricing bill known as H.R. 3, and another a sweeping green infrastructure bill known as H.R. 2 — as part of the next reconciliation package, according to people familiar with their plans.” (“Drug Pricing, Climate, Immigration: House Dems Eye ‘Kitchen Sink’ For Next Big Bill,” Politico, 3/19/2021)

FLASHBACK: Green New Deal Supporters Admit, ‘We Really Think Of It As A How-Do-You-Change-The-Entire-Economy Thing,’ ‘A New, All-Encompassing Domestic Agenda’

SAIKAT CHAKRABARTI, Former Chief of Staff for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY): “The interesting thing about the Green New Deal is it wasn’t originally a climate thing at all…. Do you guys think of it as a climate thing? Because we really think of it as a how-do-you-change-the-entire-economy thing.” (“AOC’s Chief of Change,” The Washington Post Magazine, 7/10/2019)

“New Consensus aims to be the policy quarterback for the Green New Deal. It wants to combine ideas from dozens of fields—including economics, sociology, ecology, and climate science—to write a new, all-encompassing domestic agenda. It promotes industrial policy, a school of thought that says a country should invest public dollars in its high-tech manufacturing capacity to flourish.” (“The Think Tank Struggling to Write the Green New Deal,” The Atlantic, 6/12/2019)

• “New Consensus is dreaming bigger even as it plans the next six months of research. [New Consensus executive director Demond] Drummer ultimately conceives of the Green New Deal as far more than a climate policy. It is a governing domestic agenda, he said, a chance to ‘see the elephant whole.’” (“The Think Tank Struggling to Write the Green New Deal,” The Atlantic, 6/12/2019)

Senate Democrats On The Green New Deal: ‘You Cannot Go Too Far On The Issue Of Climate Change,’ ‘Give Us Some Of That Socialism’

THE VIEW’S SUNNY HOSTIN: “Does the Green New Deal go too far?”
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): “No. You cannot go too far on the issue of climate change.” (“Sanders Says Green New Deal Doesn’t Go Too Far: You Can’t Go ‘Too Far’ on Climate Change,” Mediaite, 3/01/2019)

SEN. ED MARKEY (D-MA), Green New Deal Senate sponsor: “They call the Green New Deal pie in the sky. They call it socialism! … So here’s what I say for wind and solar and all electric vehicles and clean energy: give us some of that socialism …” (Justice Democrats, @justicedems, Twitter, 5/14/2019)