Sen. McConnell Calls for Senate Vote on Green New Deal, Markey Calls ‘Sabotage’

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said on February 12th that he planned to schedule a vote on the Green New Deal Resolution in the near future using Rule 14 to bring it to the floor under expedited procedures. Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), the chief sponsor of Senate Resolution 59, quickly whined on Twitter: “Don’t let Mitch McConnell fool you: this is nothing but an attempt to sabotage the movement we are building. He wants to silence your voice so Republicans don’t have to explain why they are climate change deniers.”
 
McConnell’s call for a vote and Markey’s ridiculous reluctance to have a debate on his own resolution give credence to the observation by Kimberly Strassel of The Wall Street Journal: “If a bunch of GOPers plotted to forge a fake Democratic bill showing how bonkers the party is, they could not have done a better job.” The Senate’s debate, which could come as soon as the last week of February, should be fun.
 
Another senator who is running for president, Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), joined the list of 11 original co-sponsors before the resolution was officially introduced. Last week I reported that six of the co-sponsors are or could be running for president: Sanders, Harris, Gillibrand, Booker, Warren, and Merkley. The other co-sponsors, who have not (yet) expressed interest in running for president, are: Ron Wyden (D-OR), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Chris Murphy (D-CT).
 
Greenwire reported on February 15th that Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA) has introduced House Resolution 132 that would provide for consideration of the Green New Deal resolution (House Resolution 109). This is a parliamentary maneuver that will allow opponents to bring the Green New Deal up for a floor vote.