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First Presidential Debate 2020: What is the Green New Deal? Biden slammed for saying 'no, I don't support it'

'He's not telling the truth and doing a lot of flip-flopping during the debate,' said one user

President Donald Trump and former vice-president Joe Biden went head to head in Cleveland as they took the stage for their first presidential debate ahead of the November 3 general elections. They debated on the Supreme Court nomination, health care system and, of course, Covid-19.

Although due to coronavirus restrictions, the handshake and greet at the beginning of the debate was given a miss, the two used the platform to openly express opinions about each other's leadership and the efficiency of their administrations. Things got heated many times. Biden even referred to Trump as a "clown" and asked him to "shut up". Moderator Chris Wallace had to intervene multiple times to bring them back on track.

The first presidential debate is the hottest topic of the day since both Trump and Biden are cutting each other off and expressing strong criticisms about each other. Wallace introduced the topic of Climate Change during the debate. At one point, Biden said, "The green new deal will pay for itself as we move forward. We're not going to build plants that, in fact, are great polluting plants."

To which Wallace enquired, "You support the green new deal?" Biden answered, "No, I don't support the green new deal." Trump took this opportunity to quip, "Oh, you don't? That's a big statement. You just lost the radical left. Oh, you don't." Biden hit back saying, "I support the Biden plan that I put forward. The Biden plan, which is different than what he calls the radical green new deal."

What is the Green New Deal?

As explained by The New York Times, the Green New Deal is a congressional proposition that gives out a plan for tackling climate change. It was introduced by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Senator Edward J Markey of Massachusetts. The proposal suggests that the federal government stop the US from fossil fuels and limit planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions across the economy. The focus is to guarantee new high-paying jobs in clean energy industries.

The resolution is nonbinding, so even if the Congress approves it, nothing in the proposal would become law, reports NYT. The report states that different versions of the proposal have been around for years. Think tanks, the Green Party and even New York Times columnist Thomas L Friedman have had plans for tackling climate change that were labeled as a Green New Deal.

However, post the 2018 midterm elections, a youth activist group called the Sunrise Movement spread the name by laying out a strategy and holding a sit-in outside the office of Nancy Pelosi, the soon-to-be-speaker of the House of Representatives, and demanded action on climate change. Ocasio-Cortez had joined the protesters, as the report suggests, and lent her support to their proposal and started the groundwork for ultimately became the joint resolution.

According to NYT, the focus of the Green New Deal was to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to avoid the harsh consequences of climate change. It also tried to fix problems such as economic inequality and racial injustice. The plan had pointed out a "10-year mobilization" to reduce carbon emissions in the country.

It visualized sourcing 100 percent of the country’s electricity from renewable and zero-emissions power, digitizing the nation’s power grid, upgrading buildings in the country to be more energy-efficient, and renovating the transportation system by investing in electric vehicles and high-speed rail. On the social justice part, it suggested that it is the responsibility of the government to provide job training and new economic development, particularly to communities that depend on jobs in fossil fuel industries.

According to the report, the Green New Deal name is inspired from the major government makeover, known as the New Deal, launched by President Franklin D Roosevelt to facilitate the US to recover from the Great Depression.

However, according to a report by Business Insider in March last year, the bill failed to advance in the Senate in a margin of 0–57, with most Senate Democrats voting "present". As stated in the report, Senate leader Mitch McConnell had described the vote as an "opportunity to go on the record" while criticizing the bill's many features that Republicans say would destroy the economy and would be unfair to the US as a whole.

"My colleagues want to pull the emergency brake on the US economy because it isn’t 'green' enough,” he said during a speech on the Senate floor. "But global carbon emissions are a global problem. We only produce about 15% of the global total."

A June 2019 report in The Washington Post stated that Biden included the framework of the Green New Deal for his campaign. His website also mentioned, "Biden believes the Green New Deal is a crucial framework for meeting the climate challenges we face. It 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."

Biden's running mate Kamala Harris had also released a statement on her website in March 2019 saying, "Climate change is an existential threat and confronting it requires bold action. I’m a proud co-sponsor of Senator Markey's Green New Deal resolution. Political stunts won't get us anywhere. Combatting this crisis first requires the Republican majority to stop denying science and finally admit that climate change is real and humans are the dominant cause. Then we can get serious about taking action to tackle the climate crisis at the scale of the problem."
 
Biden's statement on the Green New Bill during the debate was discussed on Twitter. A user named Ian Miles Cheong said, "Biden says he doesn't support the Green New Deal. Again, another lie. His own website says he supports the Green New Deal." Another said, "Biden said the Green New Deal will pay for itself but that he doesn't support it."

One user claimed, "Tonight's debate exposed the DNC’s failed election strategy of taking progressive voters for granted to chase Republican voters because Trump solidified his base tonight while Biden was busy saying he doesn’t support Medicare for All or a Green New Deal." A user said, "Biden said 'No I don't support the Green New Deal.' He’s not telling the truth and doing a lot of flip-flopping during the debate." One commented, "Trump made him walk back his positions on the Green New Deal and Policing lmao its over fellas stop tellin us to vote."