Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: Joe Biden Infrastructure Plan Follows Green New Deal ‘Framework’

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) gave a tacit endorsement Tuesday to President Joe Biden’s $3 trillion “infrastructure” plan because of its adherence to the principles of her proposed Green New Deal.

“One of the big goals we had when we introduced the Green New Deal was to show how people thought about climate change from being a billion-dollar problem to a trillion-dollar opportunity,” Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview with the New York Times. “This infrastructure package generally seems to be shaping up in that kind of framework.”

Bloomberg News reports Biden’s team is planning a $3 trillion “infrastructure plan will include at least $400 billion in “green spending.” It will also include big shifts in spending on carbon emission reductions, charging stations for electric cars, spending on wind and solar power, and the development of one million “affordable and energy-efficient” housing units, according to reports.

Republicans routinely mocked Ocasio-Cortez’s 2019 Green New Deal proposal after the American Action Forum estimated it would cost up to $93 trillion.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) criticized Democrats on Tuesday for their “obsessive” focus on climate policy, urging them to focus on infrastructure rather than “liberal fads” related to the Green New Deal.

“We’re hearing the next few months might bring a so-called ‘infrastructure’ proposal that may actually be a Trojan horse for massive tax hikes and other job-killing left-wing policies,” McConnell warned Tuesday, and added, “Pro-worker prosperity does not entail having Big Government politicians or Big Labor bosses micromanage every aspect of the economy to suit liberal fads.”