Democrats re-introduce Green New Deal with new goals

Breanne Deppisch

April 20, 01:01 PM April 20, 01:05 PM

Congressional Democrats re-introduced the "Green New Deal" legislation on Thursday, a pared-down version of their original sweeping climate bill meant to shape the spending of billions of dollars authorized by last year's Inflation Reduction Act.

Bill authors Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said their goals have changed in the four years since they introduced the Green New Deal in 2019.

They also unveiled an "Implementation Guide" to help government spend the money.

"We're hoping that this guide will provide cities states, tribes, nonprofits, businesses and individuals with the tools to take full advantage of what is in here," Ocasio-Cortez said at a press conference outside the Capitol Thursday.

Markey also joined Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) to introduce the "Green New Deal for Health," which will seek to help Americans affected by climate disasters.

The presser also served as a sort of victory lap for lawmakers, who touted the original bill as the spark that helped ignite a broader grassroots movement for climate change.

"The core tenets of the green New Deal four years ago were considered unrealistic" Ocasio-Cortez said, but have now been enacted.

Green New Deal Network Director Kaniela Ing said the IRA "was the Green New Deal, phase one."

"The Green New Deal is a 10 year project," he added. "Phase two is about to begin."