116TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. RES. ll
Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ submitted the following resolution; which was referred to
the Committee on XXXXXX
RESOLUTION
Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal.
Whereas the October 2018 report entitled ‘‘Special Report on
Global Warming of 1.5oC’’ by the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change and the November 2018
Fourth National Climate Assessment report found that—
(1) human activity is the dominant cause of observed
climate change over the past century;
(2) a changing climate is causing sea levels to rise
and an increase in wildfires, severe storms, droughts, and
other extreme weather events that threaten human life,
healthy communities, and critical infrastructure;
(3) global warming at or above 2 degrees Celsius beyond
preindustrialized levels will cause—
(A) mass migration from the regions most affected
by climate change;
(B) more than $500,000,000,000 in lost annual
economic output in the United States by the year
2100;
(C) wildfires that, by 2050, will annually burn
at least twice as much forest area in the western
United States than was typically burned by wildfires
in the years preceding 2019;
(D) a loss of more than 99 percent of all coral
reefs on Earth;
(E) more than 350,000,000 more people to be
exposed globally to deadly heat stress by 2050; and
(F) a risk of damage to $1,000,000,000,000 of
public infrastructure and coastal real estate in the
United States; and
(4) global temperatures must be kept below 1.5 degrees
Celsius above preindustrialized levels to avoid the
most severe impacts of a changing climate, which will require—
(A) global reductions in greenhouse gas emissions
from human sources of 40 to 60 percent from
2010 levels by 2030; and
(B) net-zero emissions by 2050;
Whereas, because the United States has historically been responsible
for a disproportionate amount of greenhouse
gas emissions, having emitted 20 percent of global greenhouse
gas emissions through 2014, and has a high technological
capacity, the United States must take a leading
role in reducing emissions through economic transformation;
Whereas the United States is currently experiencing several
related crises, with—
(1) life expectancy declining while basic needs, such
as clean air, clean water, healthy food, and adequate
health care, housing, transportation, and education, are
inaccessible to a significant portion of the United States
population;
(2) a 4-decade trend of economic stagnation,
deindustrialization, and antilabor policies that has led to—
(A) hourly wages overall stagnating since the
1970s despite increased worker productivity;
(B) the third-worst level of socioeconomic mobility
in the developed world before the Great Recession;
(C) the erosion of the earning and bargaining
power of workers in the United States; and
(D) inadequate resources for public sector
workers to confront the challenges of climate change
at local, State, and Federal levels; and
(3) the greatest income inequality since the 1920s,
with—
(A) the top 1 percent of earners accruing 91
percent of gains in the first few years of economic
recovery after the Great Recession;
(B) a large racial wealth divide amounting to a
difference of 20 times more wealth between the average
White family and the average Black family; and
(C) a gender earnings gap that results in
women earning approximately 80 percent as much
as men, at the median;
Whereas climate change, pollution, and environmental destruction
have exacerbated systemic racial, regional, social, environmental, and economic injustices (referred to
in this preamble as ‘‘systemic injustices’’) by disproportionately
affecting indigenous communities, communities
of color, migrant communities, deindustrialized communities,
depopulated rural communities, the poor, low-income
workers, women, the elderly, the unhoused, people
with disabilities, and youth (referred to in this preamble
as ‘‘frontline and vulnerable communities’’);
Whereas, climate change constitutes a direct threat to the national
security of the United States—
(1) by impacting the economic, environmental, and
social stability of countries and communities around the
world; and
(2) by acting as a threat multiplier;
Whereas the Federal Government-led mobilizations during
World War II and the New Deal created the greatest
middle class that the United States has ever seen, but
many members of frontline and vulnerable communities
were excluded from many of the economic and societal
benefits of those mobilizations; and
Whereas the House of Representatives recognizes that a new
national, social, industrial, and economic mobilization on
a scale not seen since World War II and the New Deal
is a historic opportunity—
(1) to create millions of good, high-wage jobs in the
United States;
(2) to provide unprecedented levels of prosperity and
economic security for all people of the United States; and
(3) to counteract systemic injustices: Now, therefore,
be it Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that—
(1) it is the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal—
(A) to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas
emissions through a fair and just transition for
all communities and workers;
(B) to create millions of good, high-wage
jobs and ensure prosperity and economic security for all people of the United States;
(C) to invest in the infrastructure and industry of the United States to sustainably meet
the challenges of the 21st century;
(D) to secure for all people of the United
States for generations to come—
(i) clean air and water;
(ii) climate and community resiliency;
(iii) healthy food;
(iv) access to nature; and
(v) a sustainable environment; and
(E) to promote justice and equity by stopping current, preventing future, and repairing
historic oppression of indigenous communities,
communities of color, migrant communities,
deindustrialized communities, depopulated rural communities, the poor, low-income workers, women, the elderly, the unhoused, people with
disabilities, and youth (referred to in this reslution as ‘‘frontline and vulnerable communities’’);
(2) the goals described in subparagraphs (A)
through (E) of paragraph (1) (referred to in this
resolution as the ‘‘Green New Deal goals’’) should
be accomplished through a 10-year national mobilization (referred to in this resolution as the ‘‘Green
New Deal mobilization’’) that will require the following goals and projects—
(A) building resiliency against climate
change-related disasters, such as extreme
weather, including by leveraging funding and providing investments for community-defined
projects and strategies;
(B) repairing and upgrading the infrastructure in the United States, including—
(i) by eliminating pollution and greenhouse gas emissions as much as technologically feasible;
(ii) by guaranteeing universal access
to clean water;
by reducing the risks posed by
flooding and other climate impacts; and
(iv) by ensuring that any infrastructure bill considered by Congress addresses
climate change;
(C) meeting 100 percent of the power demand in the United States through clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources, including—
(i) by dramatically expanding and upgrading existing renewable power sources;
and (ii) by deploying new capacity;
building or upgrading to energy-efficient, distributed, and ‘‘smart’’ power grids,
and working to ensure affordable access to electricity;
(E) upgrading all existing buildings in the
United States and building new buildings to
achieve maximal energy efficiency, water efficiency, safety, affordability, comfort, and durability, including through electrification;
spurring massive growth in clean manufacturing in the United States and removing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from manufacturing and industry as much as is technologically feasible, including by expanding renewable energy manufacturing and investing in
existing manufacturing and industry;
(G) working collaboratively with farmers
and ranchers in the United States to eliminate
pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from
the agricultural sector as much as is technologically feasible, including—
(i) by supporting family farming;
(ii) by investing in sustainable farming and land use practices that increase
soil health; and
(iii) by building a more sustainable
food system that ensures universal access
to healthy food;
(H) overhauling transportation systems in
the United States to eliminate pollution and
greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector as much as is technologically feasible, including through investment in—
(i) zero-emission vehicle infrastructure
and manufacturing;
(ii) clean, affordable, and accessible
public transportation; and
(iii) high-speed rail;
(I) mitigating and managing the long-term
adverse health, economic, and other effects of
pollution and climate change, including by providing funding for community-defined projects
and strategies;
(J) removing greenhouse gases from the
atmosphere and reducing pollution, including by
restoring natural ecosystems through proven
low-tech solutions that increase soil carbon storage, such as preservation and afforestation;
(K) restoring and protecting threatened,
endangered, and fragile ecosystems through locally appropriate and science-based projects
that enhance biodiversity and support climate
resiliency;
(L) cleaning up existing hazardous waste
and abandoned sites to promote economic development and sustainability;
(M) identifying other emission and pollution sources and creating solutions to eliminate
them; and
(N) promoting the international exchange
of technology, expertise, products, funding, and
services, with the aim of making the United States the international leader on climate action, and to help other countries achieve a
Green New Deal;
(3) a Green New Deal must be developed
through transparent and inclusive consultation, collaboration, and partnership with frontline and vulnerable communities, labor unions, worker cooperatives, civil society groups, academia, and businesses;
and
(4) to achieve the Green New Deal goals and
mobilization, a Green New Deal will require the following goals and projects—
(A) providing and leveraging, in a way that
ensures that the public receives appropriate
ownership stakes and returns on investment,
adequate capital (including through community
grants, public banks, and other public financing), technical expertise, supporting policies,
and other forms of assistance to communities,
organizations, Federal, State, and local government agencies, and businesses working on the
reen New Deal mobilization;
(B) ensuring that the Federal Government
takes into account the complete environmental
and social costs and impacts of emissions
through—
(i) existing laws;
(ii) new policies and programs; and
(iii) ensuring that frontline and vulnerable communities shall not be adversely
affected;
(C) providing resources, training, and
high-quality education, including higher education, to all people of the United States, with
a focus on frontline and vulnerable communities, so those communities may be full and
equal participants in the Green New Deal mobilization;
(D) making public investments in the research and development of new clean and renewable energy technologies and industries;
(E) directing investments to spur economic
development, deepen and diversify industry in
local and regional economies, and build wealth
and community ownership, while prioritizing
high-quality job creation and economic, social,
and environmental benefits in frontline and vulnerable communities that may otherwise struggle with the transition away from greenhouse
gas intensive industries;
(F) ensuring the use of democratic and
participatory processes that are inclusive of and
led by frontline and vulnerable communities and
workers to plan, implement, and administer the
Green New Deal mobilization at the local level;
(G) ensuring that the Green New Deal mobilization creates high-quality union jobs that
pay prevailing wages, hires local workers, offers
training and advancement opportunities, and
guarantees wage and benefit parity for workers
affected by the transition;
(H) guaranteeing a job with a family-sustaining wage, adequate family and medical
leave, paid vacations, and retirement security to
all people of the United States;
(I) strengthening and protecting the right
of all workers to organize, unionize, and collectively bargain free of coercion, intimidation, and
harassment;
(J) strengthening and enforcing labor,
workplace health and safety, anti-discrimination,
and wage and hour standards across all employers, industries, and sectors;
(K) enacting and enforcing trade rules,
procurement standards, and border adjustments
with strong labor and environmental protections—
(i) to stop the transfer of jobs and
pollution overseas; and
(ii) to grow domestic manufacturing
in the United States;
(L) ensuring that public lands, waters, and
oceans are protected and that eminent domain
is not abused;
(M) obtaining the free, prior, and informed
consent of indigenous people for all decisions
that affect indigenous people and their traditional territories, honoring all treaties and
agreements with indigenous people, and protecting and enforcing the sovereignty and land
rights of indigenous people;
(N) ensuring a commercial environment
where every businessperson is free from unfair
competition and domination by domestic or
international monopolies; and
(O) providing all people of the United States with—
(i) high-quality health care;
(ii) affordable, safe, and adequate housing;
(iii) economic security; and
(iv) access to clean water, clean air, healthy and affordable food, and nature.
