Monday on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) expanded on her previous comments about the Green New Deal initially proposed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA).
Last month when asked about the Green New Deal attempting to eliminate air travel emissions, Hirono jokingly responded, “That would be pretty hard for Hawaii.”
President Donald Trump criticized her comment during his CPAC speech over the weekend.
The question comes from a Green New Deal frequently asked questions document which stated, “We set a goal to get to net-zero, rather than zero emissions, in 10 years because we aren’t sure that we’ll be able to fully get rid of farting cows and airplanes that fast.”
When host Andrea Mitchell asked about her joke, Hirono said, “Well someone asked me whether we were trying to get rid of air travel, I said, ‘well that’s going to make it hard for Hawaii.’ But what the Green New deal stands for is a recognition that climate change is happening, not sticking our head in the sand. So what’s really crazy is Trump and all his minions and his ilk who think that global warming and climate change is not happening and they’d rather stick their heads in the sand. They know zero in terms of what they would propose and all they can do is mock and attack, and I think that is a crazy position because they are denying the science behind climate change.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN