Democratic Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin shared his views on the Green New Deal, saying he doesn’t know what exactly it is or whether he would vote for it after reading the legislation.
Durbin spoke about the Green New Deal on “Morning Joe” Wednesday and whether he would be supporting it after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced he would be bringing it to the floor for a vote to put lawmakers on the record.
The Illinois Democrat said although he has read the legislation, he does not know “what in the heck” it is.
“At this point, I can’t tell you,” he said. “I’ve read it and I’ve reread it, and I asked Ed Markey, ‘What in the heck is this?’”
“He says, ‘It is an aspiration. It’s a resolution aspiration. What we’re going to do is ask the Republican leader, ‘What’s your position on global warming?’ while we’re at it. ‘Shouldn’t you come out on the record and say if human activity is having an impact on our environment?’ Let’s get on the record on both sides,” Durbin continued.
“It’s long,” Durbin said, responding to a question about whether he’d vote for the deal in its current form.
The Green New Deal has sown division among Democratic senators, many of whom question the practicality of the resolution. The proposed deal, introduced by Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, aims to tackle climate change and other environmental concerns, but it comes at an expense.
Enacting the bill would require significant financial resources, which has caused concern for a number of Democratic senators, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California.
“At this stage, I am not a supporter of it because it’s been looked at very cursorily and if you read the language, it’s a very big program with a huge governmental cost,” Feinstein told The Daily Caller News Foundation on Feb. 13. “None of that’s been looked at.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told TheDCNF “I hope not!” when asked if the Senate was likely to pass the deal.
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