Senate Votes Down Green New Deal, Alternatives Proliferate 

The Senate voted on March 26th on a variant of the Green New Deal resolution. No Senators voted yes, 57 voted no, and 43 voted present. The sponsor of the Green New Deal, Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) as well as all eleven co-sponsors voted present.   
 
The sponsors voting present included several Democratic Senators running for president: Cory Booker (D-NJ), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Kamala Harris (D-CA), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). Not exactly profiles in courage, as my CEI colleague Marlo Lewis remarked in his commentary. 
 
All 53 Republicans were joined by Democratic Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV), Doug Jones (D-AL), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), and Angus King (I-ME) in voting no.    
 
As soon as the vote was over, Members of Congress rushed to offer alternatives. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) announced that he would be introducing a “New Manhattan Project for Clean Energy.” Alexander also said that he was working with Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Mitt Romney (R-UT) to develop his climate legislation.
 
Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) announced that he had drafted a Green Real Deal. Politico obtained a copy of the draft.
 
House Democrats on March 27th announced legislation that would bind the United States to the commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions made in 2015 by President Barack Obama to the Paris climate treaty. Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL), chairman of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, is the main sponsor of the Climate Action Now (CAN) Act. 
 
And on March 28th, Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) introduced the Healthy Climate and Family Security Act. Their bill is a cap-and-trade bill with a twist.  Revenues generated from penalties on companies that exceed their quota of permitted greenhouse gas emissions would be paid as “dividends” to families.