Joe Battenfeld: Green New Fail as Dems shun GOP-forced vote on climate bill

March 27-- Mar. 27--It was an epic fail all around.

In what was essentially a stunt, Republicans forced an early vote on the Green New Deal on Tuesday and not a single U.S. Senator -- including the measure's sponsor, Massachusetts' Ed Markey -- signed on to the overly ambitious environmental overhaul.

Democrats fearful of being recorded for a yes vote, along with other Democrats who proudly back the Green New Deal, combined to help deal the resolution a self-inflicted 57-0 defeat on the Senate floor.

In all, 43 Democrats, including Markey and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, voted "present" as a protest. Three Dems, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Doug Jones of Alabama and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, voted no on the GND. Also voting no was independent Angus King of Maine. They are all in red or purple states, where a vote for the Green New Deal could be politically deadly.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, looking for fodder for future campaign purposes, brought the resolution up for a vote to embarrass Markey and his fellow Democrats. It mostly didn't work, because Democrats concocted the childish "present" vote retort.

Nyah, nyah, nyah. Is this what we really want our lawmakers to be doing?

"This is nonsense," McConnell said of the GND. "And if you're going to sign onto nonsense, you ought to have to vote for nonsense."

Markey called the vote a "sham" and said Republicans were trying to "make a mockery" of the Green New Deal debate.

"They are calling a vote without hearings, without expert testimony, without any true discussion of the costs of climate inaction and the massive potential for clean energy job creation in our country," Markey said. "And that's because Sen. McConnell wants to sabotage the call for climate action."

Democrats say the recent deadly fires, hurricanes and flooding that have wracked parts of the country are further proof of the destructive effects of global warming.

But Republicans and President Trump plan to hold up the Green New Deal as an example of the radical, socialist turn the Democrats have taken, and force them to defend the resolution calling for the phase out of gas-fueled cars and retrofitting of every building in America.

Trump told GOP senators at a meeting "to make sure you don't kill it too much because I want to run against it."

Oh, don't worry, the Green New Deal isn't dead.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her liberal cohorts in the House will make sure of that.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as politically savvy as they come, knows the Green New Deal is a loser for many Democrats, so she will try to keep the resolution off the House floor. But she can't stop Ocasio-Cortez from talking.

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