Rep. Alexandria Ocasio–Cortez, D-NY, along with other progressives, has called for the creation of a 1.5 million member, federally funded “Climate Corps,” Fox News reported.
The Climate Corps would be instituted to push the far-left Green New Deal, a massive bill meant to transform the US economy and promote “racial, economic, and climate injustice.”
Members of the Climate Corps would receive payment for working to “reduce carbon emissions, enable a transition to renewable energy, build healthier and more resilient communities, implement conservation projects with proven climate benefits, and help communities recover from climate disasters.”
The plan will focus on handing out government jobs to the unemployed in urban centers and impoverished rural areas.
“What we’re going to do is make sure communities like Flint, Baltimore, the South Bronx, St. Louis, rural communities whose infrastructure was never properly built in the first place, are first in line to rectify the injustices of the past and make sure they get everything they need to thrive in the future,” Ocasio–Cortez told reporters.
Over half of the funding would be delivered to so-called “environmental justice” communities.
The plan also focuses on putting “a new, diverse generation of Americans to work conserving our public lands and waters, bolstering community resilience, and advancing environmental justice.”
The proposal also aims at enforcing racial equality and diversity, which according to Ocasio–Cortez, will slow climate change.
It would provide “livable wages with benefits, on-the-job training with local unions, sweat equity that builds racial, moral and political equality,” said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who has co-sponsored the plan.
“Work that rebuilds the economy and saves the planet all at the same time,” Markey added. “This is the 21st century Civilian Climate Corps.”
In order to fund the proposal, Democrats have called for major tax hikes, including increasing the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%.
