Environment

AOC says Biden’s climate plan sounds similar to her ‘Green New Deal’

Published

3 years ago

January 27, 2021

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) pointed out Wednesday that President Joe Biden’s recently announced $2 trillion series of environmental policies—which include phasing out coal, oil, and natural gas as power sources by 2035—looks awfully like her “Green New Deal” plan.

“It’s almost as if we helped shape the platform,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a tweet, followed by a winking face emoji.

It’s almost as if we helped shape the platform 😉 https://t.co/zXn3VcAbYw
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 27, 2021

The Bronx and Queens congresswoman was responding to a tweet Wednesday from NBC News White House correspondent Geoff Bennett in which he observed similarities between the Biden’s recent executive actions and Ocasio-Cortez’s “Green New Deal” proposal.

“It’s striking how much of Biden’s climate executive actions reflect major elements of the Green New Deal — tackling climate change while addressing economic/racial injustice — without actually *being the Green New Deal. Some political sleight of hand,” Bennett posted.

It should be noted that, while Ocasio-Cortez has been the one spearheading the Green New Deal proposal, she didn’t coin the term or the general concept. While the Green Party’s 2012 and 2016 presidential nominee Dr. Jill Stein heavily promoted a near-identical policy with the exact same name, Stein has attributed the plan’s origins to Howie Hawkins, a co-founder of the party who was its 2020 presidential nominee. His “Green New Deal” was on his 2010 platform while running to be governor of New York.

“Today is climate day at the White House, which means that today is jobs day at the White House,” President Biden said before signing a slate of executive orders Wednesday “to meet the climate crisis for American jobs and American engineering.”

There are fears, however, that his new climate policy efforts will cause job losses in other industries such a coal and oil. He did not provide a direct answer to quell these fears of job losses caused by moving to renewable sources for electricity.

You can follow Douglas Braff on Twitter @Douglas_P_Braff.

China

Electric Vehicle company with Chinese ties awarded $500 million of taxpayer money for 2nd U.S. plant

Published

2 weeks ago

September 18, 2023

Sara Carter Staff

With a little help from their Democrat friends, a Chinese electric vehicle (EV) battery company with ties to the Chinese Communist Party just announced the opening of its second plant in the United States.

Fox News reports Gotion Inc., whose parent company Gotion High-Tech is based in Hefei, China, unveiled plans to build a $2 billion lithium battery plant in Manteno, Illinois, alongside Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who cheered the project.

The announcement comes amid growing opposition to the company’s plans to build a billion-dollar factory in Mecosta County, Michigan.

In order to make the expansion happen, lobbyists for the Chinese Communist Party-tied electric vehicle company funneled cash to Democrats. “Individuals at a law firm registered as foreign agents to lobby on behalf of Gotion, a Chinese electric vehicle battery company developing a controversial project in Michigan, and wired campaign contributions to several top Democrats” reports Fox News.

“According to state and federal filings, Monique Field-Foster, an attorney at the Lansing office of the Warner Norcross + Judd law firm who is acting as a foreign agent on behalf of Gotion, donated to the campaigns of Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Whitmer’s sister Liz Gereghty and Michigan Democratic Senate hopeful Rep. Elissa Slotkin” the Fox News report continued.

“With the right incentives, nation-leading infrastructure, world-class workforce and booming clean energy production, we have transformed ourselves into an attractive location for global manufacturers. Today, we take another leap forward. It’s my pleasure to welcome Gotion to Illinois and to show the world yet again that Illinois is ready to be a player on the world stage.”

Pritzker delivered remarks late last week thanking Gotion for choosing Illinois to call “home” in a ceremony with leaders from Gotion High-Tech, including Li Zhen, the company’s chairman and president, who said he expected the factory to open in less than 12 months.

“All that we see here [in Illinois] are of enormous value to us: an enabling business environment, a supportive state government for the new energy industry and their highly efficient work, as well as the prospects of the State of Illinois in the coming years,” the Gotion president added. “We believe that Gotion’s battery technology will help to boost e-mobility in North America and the economic and trade exchanges between China and the U.S.”