America Can’t Afford the Green New Deal

December 15, 2020

As President-elect Joe Biden continues to staff his administration and choose cabinet members, his potential policy platform is becoming more and more clear. He was inconsistent on the campaign trail, as he tried to connect with both moderate Democrats and radical progressives. But, who he plans on surrounding himself with is very telling. Biden has yet to pick who may be his Energy Secretary, but, whoever it is, they will be under pressure from the eco-left to support the Green New Deal (GND).

Earlier this year, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) read the entire bill on the House floor to clear up ‘misinformation.’ After doing so, she asked, “Why this is so controversial?” As Fox News reports:  

Conservative groups have estimated the deal would cost trillions of dollars, create an unsustainable financial burden for the economy, and burden the average household with tens of thousands in annual costs.

Power The Future conducted a study that exposed some of these realities. The report shows that within the first year of the GND’s implementation, it would cost households an average of between $74,287 and $76,683 in 10 states. In total, these states would also face $2.7 trillion in aggregate costs to households. The GND may be a powerful political tool for lawmakers in Washington, D.C. and a symbol of the eco-left, but, to American families, it largely represents a cost that few can afford to bear.

The Heritage Foundation attempted to use the Energy Information Administration’s National Energy Model to forecast the impact of steep carbon taxes aimed at reaching the net-zero greenhouse gas emissions goal. Not only did the model crash, it failed to approach anywhere near the goal outlined in the Green New Deal. The closest Heritage was able to get was a 58 percent reduction in emissions, achieved through a $300 carbon tax  — taxes above $300 crashed the EIA’s model.

Americans are still struggling to recover from Covid-19 and its economic impact – hopefully Biden’s potential pick for Energy Secretary realizes that, especially right now, it is no time to put even more financial stress on millions of families.