PRESS RELEASE: Heartland Institute Experts React to Senate’s Unanimous Rejection of Green New Deal

Published March 26, 2019

The United States Senate on Tuesday unanimously rejected the Green New Deal without a single vote in favor. The resolution failed on an unusual 0-57 vote with all Republicans and a few Democrats voting to reject it while the other 43 Democrats voted “present.”

The following statements from environment and climate experts at The Heartland Institute —a free-market think tank— may be used for attribution. For more comments, refer to the contact information below. To book a Heartland guest on your program – including a live TV remote from Heartland’s studio, which can connect to any station or network in the world – please contact Media Specialist Billy Aouste at [email protected] and 312/377-4000.


“The Green New Deal is such horrendous policy proposal that not a single senator would go on record supporting it – not even the Green New Deal’s Democrat sponsors.

“Unfortunately, some Republicans foolishly think they need to counter such a horrendous policy proposal by proposing a ‘Green New Deal-lite.’ Yet a 10 percent discount from a thoroughly horrendous proposal is still a 90 percent horrendous proposal.

“Any efforts to impose costly, unnecessary, and globally inconsequential restrictions on carbon dioxide emissions on the American people – whether a full-fledged Green New Deal or a Republican-In-Name-Only Green New Deal-lite – is a betrayal of the American working families that would have to pay for it.”

James Taylor
Senior Fellow for Environmental Policy
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
312/377-4000


“The fact that the Green New Deal could not garner the support of its sponsors, or any of the announced 2020 Democratic contenders, shows it was a farce and not a serious attempt to address either climate change or America’s energy needs.

“Not a single sponsor voted to support the bill – amazing. One wonders why they bothered introducing it if they were not willing to defend or support it. This was pure grandstanding. Democrats thought by voting present, they would not be on the record for supporting the bill. However, by sponsoring and publicly defending it, they already are. Now they have just embarrassed themselves further. The Green New Deal is dead, long may it stay buried!”

H. Sterling Burnett, Ph.D.
Senior Fellow, Environment & Energy Policy
The Heartland Institute
Managing Editor, Environment & Climate News
[email protected]
312/377-4000