WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) March 2019 Porker of the Month for taking the lead in proposing a “Green New Deal” that would bankrupt America.
On February 7, 2019, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez introduced H. Res. 109, to recognize “the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal,” through a “10-year national mobilization effort” to drastically remake the U. S. economy.
The Green New Deal would be a disaster for American taxpayers for a litany of reasons that are difficult to count. Most importantly, its astronomical cost to taxpayers would bankrupt the nation. The American Action Forum estimated that the total cost of the proposal could be as high as $93 trillion. To put that figure in perspective, it would more than quadruple the current national debt of $22 trillion that the United States has accumulated in the last 240 years. A federal job guarantee for all Americans could cost up to $44.6 trillion, single-payer healthcare could cost up to $36 trillion, rebuilding the entire energy grid could cost up to $5.4 trillion, forcing every American family to retrofit their home for energy efficiency could cost up to $4.2 trillion, and remaking America’s transportation system could cost up to $2.7 trillion. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and her allies have yet to submit a plan that comes even remotely close to paying for this tsunami of new spending.
The cost in terms of disruption of every single American’s life is not as easily quantified, as it represents an unprecedented and radical departure from the type of economy that built and sustained the United States throughout its history. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez’s office admitted, in a document they later had to disavow, that some of their goals were to, “replace every combustion-engine vehicle” and create rail systems so that “air travel stops becoming necessary,” and to provide, “economic security for all who are unable or unwilling to work.” To be fair, they do grudgingly admit that, “we aren’t sure that we’ll be able to fully get rid of farting cows and airplanes that fast.” What a relief.
CAGW President Tom Schatz said, “Using any normal public policy standard, the Green New Deal should be laughed out of the room. It is unrealistic, unaffordable, and absurd. This type of socialism is offensive to taxpayers. The Green New Deal and similar proposals represent a calculated attack on free market capitalism and the principles that made America an exceptional nation. This type of utopian nonsense must not be allowed to become the next ‘duty’ of the federal government.”
For pushing a radical plan that would destroy the American economy, CAGW names Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez its March 2019 Porker of the Month.
Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government. For more than two decades, Porker of the Month is a dubious honor given to lawmakers, government officials, and political candidates who have shown a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers.
