Tom Cotton Calls Out Media for Using 'Stalin-Like' Techniques To Help Green New Deal
Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas accused the mainstream media of engaging in “Stalin-like” tactics during the roll out of the Green New Deal by freshman Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
During an interview on The Hugh Hewitt Show on Tuesday, Cotton explained what particularly caught his eye was how the media appeared complicit in hiding the FAQ document about the Green New Deal circulated by Ocasio-Cortez’s office.
The document called for federally guaranteed jobs for “all people of the United States” willing to work and “economic security for all who are unable or unwilling to work,” Fox News reported.
“I understand the Democrats that proposed this immediately tried to retract that white paper that went along with their resolution,” Cotton said. “And too many people in the media have been complicit in the Stalin-like or 1984 technique of disappearing it, sending it down the memory hole.”
“Sure. I mean, Hugh, it’s pretty remarkable that when these Democrats put out the Green New Deal last week that you had many Democrats running for president leap onto a proposal that was going to confiscate every privately owned vehicle in America within a decade and ban air travel so we could all drive or ride around on high-speed light rail, supposedly powered by unicorn tears, yes,” the senator added.
Co-sponsors of the Green New Deal resolution include Democratic presidential hopefuls Sens. Kamala Harris of California, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, The Hill reported.
Prospective 2020 presidential candidates Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas have also expressed support for the proposal.
According to The Washington Post, more than 70 House Democrats and 12 Senate Democrats have signed on to the Green New Deal. Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts joined Ocasio-Cortez in introducing the resolution.
The plan envisions a massive government intervention into the economy in order to transition the United States to 100 percent renewable energy, including the goal of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2030.
Currently, 11 percent of the country’s energy consumption comes from renewable sources such as solar, wind and hydroelectric power, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
To achieve the goal, the Green New Deal mandates the replacement of airplanes with high-speed trains, the rebuilding or retrofitting of all buildings in the country to new green standards, and the elimination of all combustion-engine vehicles.
Ocasio-Cortez included some of her favorite government social programs in the resolution such as free universal health care and college education, government guaranteed employment, and paid family and medical leave, as well as economic security for all.
The Green New Deal has been estimated to cost approximately $7 trillion per year. By way of comparison, the current federal budget for fiscal year 2019 is approximately $4.4 trillion.
Cotton says the proposal reflects what the Democrats truly want for the United States.
“But this is where their heart lies,” he said. “They believe that Americans driving around in trucks on farms, or commuting from the suburbs where they can have a decent home into the city to work are a fundamental threat to the world, and they have to have the power and the control of those Americans’ lives to implement their radical vision for humanity.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promised that he will schedule a vote on the Green New Deal.
“I’ve noted with great interest the Green New Deal,” he told reporters on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. “And we’re going to be voting on that in the Senate. Give everybody an opportunity to go on record and see how they feel about the Green New Deal.”
.@Senatemajldr: “I’ve noted with great interest the Green New Deal. And we’re going to be voting on that in the Senate. Give everybody an opportunity to go on record and see how they feel about the #GreenNewDeal.” pic.twitter.com/1HP5lSDjzM
— CSPAN (@cspan) February 12, 2019
The Hill reported it has no chance of passing the Republican-controlled Senate.
GOP Rep. Russ Fulcher of Idaho told The Western Journal, “I would rename the Green New Deal, the Red New Disaster because that’s exactly what it would be.”
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