'It's a Horrible, Horrible, Horrible Bill of Nothing But Lunacy.' Rep. Jody Hice Slams Green New Deal
Rep. Jody Hice of Georgia described the Green New Deal as a “horrible” bill and is leading an effort to force a vote on it in the House of Representatives in order to get Democrats on record.
“This is a horrible, horrible, horrible bill with nothing but lunacy in it, with a price tag of at least $93 trillion,” Hice, a Republican, told The Western Journal at the Conservative Political Action Conference outside of Washington late last week.
“I don’t see how it helps the Democrats at all,” he added. “(T)he New Green Deal has a price tag of $600,000, $650,000 per household. I mean I don’t know of too many people that have $600,000 sitting in the cookie jar at home.”
Between their support for the Green New Deal and late-term abortion, among other issues, Hice argued the Democrats are moving far outside the mainstream of the American electorate.
“There’s just one thing after another, after another that we are now watching, frankly, largely coming from a group of freshmen in the Democratic Party, who are themselves socialists, dragging a left-wing party even further to the left,” he said.
“I don’t think this country is anywhere near ready for that. It is a center-right country.
“The more Democrats reveal their true colors, it hurts them.”
Hice said he and some fellow Republican lawmakers introduced a discharge petition last month in order to force a vote on the Green New Deal in the House.
“I think America needs to see on record who are the socialists in this country and who wants to destroy the American free-enterprise system and have their vote recorded on it,” he said.
In a tweet that included a link to the petition, Hice tagged Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who co-authored the Green New Deal.
“I hope you’re the first to sign!” he wrote to the New York lawmaker.
I’ve introduced a resolution to begin the process of forcing a vote on the #GreenNewDeal→ https://t.co/wtemKcg4M9.
The American people deserve to know where their Member of Congress stand on such a radical policy. It’s as simple as that. @AOC, I hope you’re the first to sign!
— Rep. Jody Hice (@CongressmanHice) February 15, 2019
Hice explained that a discharge petition requires a majority vote (currently 216 representatives) in order to make it to the floor to be considered.
He anticipated that most, if not all, 197 GOP lawmakers in the House would support it.
The Freedom Caucus member added that 67 Democrats in the chamber are co-sponsoring Green New Deal, so if they have the courage of their convictions, they should support the move to have it voted on, as well.
“I think the bill is so horrendous,” Hice said. “I think putting them in a position where they are forced to vote on it is a very good move.”
President Donald Trump expressed a similar sentiment during his CPAC remarks on Saturday.
“I think the New Green Deal, or whatever the hell they call it,” Trump said. “The Green New Deal, right? Green New Deal — I encourage it. I think it’s really something that they should promote. They should work hard on.”
“But I’ll take the other side of that argument only because I’m mandated to,” he joked.
“I’m mandated. But they should stay with that argument. Never change. No planes. No energy. When the wind stops blowing, that’s the end of your electric.”
“Let’s hurry up. ‘Darling — Darling, is the wind blowing today? I’d like to watch television, darling,'” Trump said.
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