Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden claimed during Tuesday’s debate that he did not support the Green New Deal, despite the fact that his campaign website calls it a “crucial framework” for his climate change initiative.
“The Green New Deal is not my plan,” Biden said of the radical policy proposed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio–Cortez, D-N.Y., and sponsored by Biden’s running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.
When asked again whether he would support the plan, since his own campaign has adopted some of its elements, Biden replied, “No, I don’t support the Green New Deal.”
“Oh, you don’t? Well, that’s a big statement,” President Donald Trump interjected. “That means you just lost the radical Left. It’s gone.”
Biden continued, ignoring Trump: “I support the Biden plan that I put forward, which is different than what he calls the ‘radical Green New Deal.’”
Biden’s campaign website, however, offers a different message.
The “Biden Plan for a Clean Energy Revolution and Environmental Justice” would cost $1.7 trillion and take 10 years to fully implement, his website states, and it relies on the Green New Deal as a “crucial framework for meeting the climate challenges we face.”
The Green New Deal “powerfully captures two basic truths, which are at the core of his plan: (1) the United States urgently needs to embrace greater ambition on an epic scale to meet the scope of this challenge, and (2) our environment and our economy are completely and totally connected,” his website states.
Ocasio–Cortez responded to Biden’s comments during the debate and claimed that his opposition to the Green New Deal is “why I joined Biden’s Climate Unity Task Force.”
This isn’t news, Kellyanne.
Our differences are exactly why I joined Biden’s Climate Unity Task Force – so we could set aside our differences & figure out an aggressive climate plan to address the planetary crisis at our feet.
Trump doesn’t even believe climate change is real. https://t.co/Bj8SMD9Syf
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) September 30, 2020
