>> thank you all for being here today on this very important moment. i want to thank my fantastic partner of the screen you deal resolution, congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez. i want to thank all the house and senate members who are with the many others who have signed on, or will be signing on, to this resolution. this is an incredible moment, because all of the supporters supporting the climate, clean energy, social justice, public health, grassroots organizations that make up the most powerful movement organizing in the united states today. has the our history interests of all americans been so united on a single issue, climate change. from the air we breathe to the jobs that employ us, to the neighborhoods would live in, to the economy we operate within, climate change defines our existence. global temperatures are the highest in recorded history. wealth inequality is at its highest point since the era of the great depression. coastlines,of our the erosion of the earning power of workers, the pollution of our planet, the pollution of our , and kochby big oil brothers financing. the interrelationship of these ills and injustices is undeniable. but the challenge is not insurmountable. it will only be through an historic generational commitment to end climate change that we create the kind of democracy that works for all americans. we will save all of creation by engaging in massive job creation within our country. we can deliver a green new deal for america. so what are we talking about when we talk about a green new deal? when we talk about a green new deal, we are talking about jobs and justice. we are talking about the greatest blue-collar job creation program in a generation. we are talking about repairing the historic oppression of frontline and vulnerable communities which have borne the worst burdens of our fossil fuel economy. because president roosevelt was right when he said about his new deal, statesmanship and vision, tofriends, require relief all at the same time. we are talking about an historic 10 year mobilization that will mitigate climate emissions, build climate resilience. we have acted on this scale before and we must do it again. we need massive renewable energy deployment. wind, solar, offshore wind, storage batteries for renewable electricity. our energy future will not be found in the dark of a mine, but in the light of the sun. energy efficiency, smart power grids, clean and affordable public transit, clean cars and manufacturing, and working with key industries to eliminate pollution. today, we are putting forward a set of principles, not prescriptions, that will require leveraging new financing, providing you resources, and training and using existing laws and new regulations to meet our 10 year goal. we can create high-quality jobs and enforce labor standards, guarantee rights to retirement security and health care, and conduct inclusive decision-making. there will be critics who will say this does not go far enough, or that this can never get done. these of course are the same cynics who said auto companies would never agree to raise fuel economy standards, the same naysayers who insisted that a inbal climate agreement paris was entirely impossible. i'm continually comforted by their consistency. they have been consistently wrong. in the greatest climate denier of them all is in the white house, donald trump. utteresident who did not the words climate change or clean energy doing his state of the union two nights ago. on the most important issue facing this country, his state of the union, donald trump's stated the union was silent. every reason -- state of the union was silent. every reason trump, and the deniers offer is proof positive that we should push forward even harder. whetheruestion isn't all democrats can support this resolution. it is if any republican will support this resolution. the question should not be if we can do it, the answer should be when we will do it. five decades ago, president kennedy announced the ambitious goal of sending an american safely to the moon. he didn't say how it would be done, but that we would do it. we would need a giant rocket made of new metal alloys that had not been invented yet. and it would have to be returned safely to earth within 10 years. he urged us to be bold. i say today that it is time for us to be bold once again. we have the technology to do it. we have the moral obligation. we have the economic imperative. we just need the political will to get this done. the sun is setting on the dirty energy of the past. today marks the dawn of a new era of climate action, when we look back today, this will be the moment that we will be able to say that the political tide has turned on the rising seas. we are reclaiming our leadership on the most important issue facing humankind. this is the new climate democracy, of the people, by the people, for the planet. i thank you all for being here today on this historic day. want to introduce to you my phenomenal partner on this resolution, the great alexandria across seo cortez -- owns andrea across seo cortez. colleagues to all my here that have joined us today. this is so incredible. this is such a major watershed moment and i'm so incredibly excited that we are going to transition this country into the future and we are not going to be dragged behind by our past. i'm so excited by that. i think today is not just a big day for us as a delegation, as a party, as a movement, that this is a big day for activists all over the country and for frontline communities all over the country. today is a big day for people who have been left behind. today's a big day for workers in appalachia. today's a big day for children that have been breathing dirty air in the south bronx. today is a really good day for families who have been in during the injustices of drinking dirty water, or have seen their living rooms being flooded in with the levels. rising sea and today i think is a really big day for our economy, the labor movement, the social justice movements, indigenous peoples, and people all over the united states of america. because today is the day that we truly embark on a comprehensive agenda of economic, social, and racial justice in the united states of america. that is what this agenda is all about. and ourt climate change environmental challenges are one of the biggest -- because climate change is one of the biggest ethics is -- existential threats to our life, not just as a nation, but as a world. in order to combat that threat, we must be as ambitious and innovative in our solutions as possible. so what we are doing today in introducing these resolutions here today is that it is not a bill, it is a resolution. what this resolution is doing is saying this is our first step. our first step is to define the problem and defined the scope of the solution. so we are here to say that small, intermittent policy solutions -- incremental policy lucian's are not enough. they can be part of the solution, but they are not the solution unto itself. there is no justice and there's no combating climate change without addressing what has happened to indigenous communities. that means that there is no fixing our economy without addressing the racial wealth gap. that means we are not going to transition to renewable energy without also transitioning frontline communities and coal communities into economic opportunity as well. that is what this is about. it is comprehensive. it is thoughtful. it ispassionate, and extremely economically strategic as well. today is also the day -- also the day that we choose to a suit -- assert ourselves as a global leader in transitioning to 100% renewable energy and charting that path. that means we are not going to pack ourselves by the lowest standard of other nations. it doesn't mean we're going to say what about them, they are not doing it, why should we? we should do it because we should leave. we should do it because that is what this nation is about. we should do it because we are country founded on ideals, of culture that is innovative, that cares for our brothers and sisters across this country. we should do it because we are an example to the world. that is why we should do it. and we need to save ourselves, and we can save the rest of the world with us. that is why we should do it. that is why we define the scope of this resolution to be so broad and to be so comprehensive. because we are outlining the green new deal and in the spirit of franklin delano roosevelt, we have the green new deal, and we have green you deal projects. the tennessee valley authority was a new deal project that was part of a larger vision. today we are laying down with that larger vision is. so when people say, what about this, or what about that? the answer is, that is part of the solution. i hope you all see that. i hope y'all see the scope and scale, because the solution is not going to come from just one congresswoman from the bronx. it's not going to come just from one senator. it's going to come from all of our representatives as a country saying this is what iowa needs, this what virginia needs, this is what michigan needs, this what illinois needs, and this is what new york needs. when we have this threat that challenges all of us, the solution is going to take all of us, too. i want to reiterate my thanks to the advocates and the organizers who make this moment happen and created the political energy to be relevant and to put it at the top of the agenda, not the bottom of the agenda. i thank you all very, very much. briefly tolike introduce our two great senators from oregon who are here today. i want to begin with jeff merkley. >> i'm so excited to be here with these two leaders from our two houses of congress, working to build a home coalition inside the house and inside the senate to take this vision of a green new deal forward. this vision is born of two profound challenges that we face as a society. one of those is climate chaos. we see it in the forest fires of the northwest. in the more powerful hurricanes assaulting the southeast, and we see it in dozens and dozens of other issues in between. we know the damage that is being done. we know the damage being done to agriculture, to our farmers in america. we know the damage been done to our forests and timber communities. we note the damage being done to our fisheries. this is not an urban problem. this is not a rural problem. this is hurting everybody. that means it is not a red or blue issue. it's not a republican or democratic issue. it is all of us coming together in our responsibility as elected leaders to forge a vision to take on this issue, which is doing so much damage to our country and to our planet, and through our leadership, our example, our efforts, worked in partnership with the world. the second massive issue of income inequality, for every decade since i came out of high school, working wages have been flat or declining, while the wealth of america increased. so many communities bypass different economic initiatives. frontline communities sometimes ignored, sometimes deliberately inored while not benefiting tangible ways. we have to make sure this is a movement that touches our frontline communities and our coal communities and our oil communities as we all work together for this prosperous future. so let's take these issues together, create tens of millions of jobs, a huge, huge increase in economic and social equality. [applause] >> we are also joined by the top democrat on the senate finance committee, the great ron wyden. come on in. >> the three speakers have said it very well. what is especially exciting about this morning is the opportunity for reform on several fronts. , as theoday to say senior democrat on the committee that writes tax policy in the senate, the senate finance committee, it is my intention to work with all of these good dirty energyow the tax relics of yesterday -- yesteryear into the garbage can and work to put clean energy front and center for a healthier , from sea americans to shining sea. >> thank you, ron. are there any questions? >> you will see when we introduced this legislation, we have a large amount of cosponsors, we have 60 original cosponsors in legislation, which is an enormous amount, and we even have more that were not able to the original cosponsors, so there are more that are cosponsoring the legislation even after our initial rollout. very excited. this includes broad support across the party. i'm very excited about it and really excited for our party's overall commitment to addressing this issue. i think it is a green dream. it is. that all great american programs, everything from the great society to the new deal, starting with a vision for our future. i don't think -- i don't a dismissive to be term, i think it is a great term. >> and there is no greater champion on climate change than nancy pelosi. i was the chair of the select committee on global warming. there is no greater champion. just that in time today, she said she welcomes the enthusiasm of the backers of the green new deal, and that's what we have here. all issues go through three phases. the beginning of the education and activation phase, and ultimately we are to have the legislative implementation phase of this program as well. >> [indiscernible] >> the resolution is silent on any individual technology, which can move us toward a solution of this problem. this is a resolution that does not have individual prescriptions in it, so it is silent, the resolution itself. it is not part of the resolution. >> can you name any names? >> i'm not trying to get anyone in trouble here early, but i do when i do kind of speak to members of the republican caucus, there are a few issues where they truly believe in and express interest in coming together. in addition to criminal justice reform and infrastructure, which this is in many ways and infrastructure bill as well, is the environment. we are really starting to see that environmental and climate issues are issues that swing voters decide who they are going to cast their vote on. i'm thrilled to say that there is interest. >> do you guys expect this will be offset by higher taxes? >> i spoke about this this morning. i think that part of this is also really examining the role of government and what government is for. i don't think -- i think it is important that we study are economic history, that government expenditure is not always just 100% offset by a tangible increase in that tax that same year. so i think that we certainly saw that -- we certainly see the republican embrace of that with the tax cut bill, which does not generate economic growth, but i'm looking forward to really communicating at this is an investment, for every one dollar that we spend on infrastructure, we get a return on that investment. for every one dollar we spend on tax cuts, we get less than one dollar back. so this is about making smart investment and it is about making investments that actually generate returns, and not lying about the fact that they generate returns. actually generate returns. >> one thing going to fight for us to make sure renewables, electric vehicles are getting the same tax rate set the fossil fuel industry has received for the last 100 years. they might consider that to be a tax increase, but that is something we are going to remove from the tax rolls in our country. >> [indiscernible] >> you having insurance from speaker pelosi that this resolution will come to the floor? between 2009ence and 2010 and today is the movement that has now been built. we did not have that movement in 2009 and 2010. this is now a voting issue across the country. green generation has risen up, and they are saying that they want this issue solved, and they want the people who work in this building and occupy the white house to solve this problem. so this is going to enter the 2020 election cycle as one of the top two or three issues for every candidate on both sides, for them to have to answer. that was the year they started to pour their millions into trying to create a climate for people did not believe in climate science. we now have the troops, we now have the money, we are ready to fight. so the difference between 2009-10 and today is we now have our army as well. >> and i think it is important just to reiterate on that as well, i think a lot of times who lostle say elections on what, i often think they are wrong, just personally. i don't than we lose elections by addressing climate change. i don't think we ever have, and i don't think we ever will. i think what this is really about is how ambitious we are going to be. what i sense in some portions of the country is that people grow frustrated because they don't feel like we are being ambitious enough, and people grow frustrated by half measures and solutions that don't comprehensively and effectively touch their everyday lives. on the other half of the issue, i want to reiterate what senator markey also said earlier, that nancy pelosi is a leader on climate and has always been a leader on climate. i will not allow our caucus to be divided up by silly notions of whatever narrative. we are in this together. we are 100% in this together. we have different solutions and different mechanisms, different cars we have to drive to get there, but we have to take a lot of different paths. we have the environmental subcommittee on oversight. we have the entire energy and commerce committee. we had the judiciary committee that is going to play a role in so many of these tangential effects. is going to take all of us doing it together. that is the important point to get across. and issue faces all of us we are not going to get divided over it. we leave no one behind on our solutions. >> and we have the chairman of the rules committee with us, who which bills come to the floor of the united states house of representatives. you don't get more powerful than that. >> thank you very much. >> [indiscernible] >> first of all, i find this hilarious, because this president seeks to expand government into the bodies of women. they seek to expand government to spontaneously generate the tension centers all along our southern border. they seek to expand government and separating children from their parents. they seek to expand government in passing massive increases in military spending, when we have no wars to fight or that we should be fighting. so this is not about who is expanding government. it is about who we are working for. and we are choosing to work for the people of the united states. [applause] >> you talk about being 100% united. but today speaker pelosi appointed a climate commission that you are not on and in her remarks that she is not even read the resolution. so how sure are you that she is behind this effort? haveeaker pelosi and i spoken at length about climate. we share this priority. she did in fact invite me to be on the committee. so i don't think this is a snub or anything like that. we can have a conversation about the committee another day. today's about the vision we are putting forward an actual legislative plan. scopenow this legislative is the only legislative scope that has been presented in this congress. i serve on the environmental subcommittee of oversight. i on four subcommittees. -- i am on four subcommittees. excited to support representative caster in holding these hearings and frontline --munities and we also have they are tackling the investigative piece and right now we are tackling the legislative piece. the billo go back to it cannot have passed without nancy pelosi on the floor of the house of representatives. it reduced greenhouse gases by 80% by the year 2050. the reason we are here now is that our scientists are now , that is our president federal government scientist saying to their own president, in defiance of his views on climate science, that it is even more urgent that we act sooner. the u.n. scientists are saying the same thing. so there's no question that championosi wants to and will continue to be the champion to put together the team on every legislative committee to produce the legislation to solve this problem. >> and by the way, we have three members of the select committee with -- right here with us. and we got energy and commerce here also. >> that would be a good problem to have. that would be an excellent discussion that we will have to have. my own feeling is that this will be such a powerful issue in the 2020 election cycle, and we are going to have the republican support all across the country to pass it, with 60 votes and a supermajority in the house as well. that's what this mobilization is all about. [indiscernible] >> i believe we are going to start in the house to look at all of the options that are available to deal with this issue, and i think we will start to see bills that are developed. on the senate side, you already senateon wyden talk on finance in the development of smart ways that we can advance the renewable agenda in our country. it begins now. a mobilization has begun. congress is a stimulus response institution. there's nothing more stimulating than tens of millions of people who are saying we want something done now. >> [indiscernible] >> this is an excellent question. a lot of what we are trying to do is transition our nation's infrastructure, because one of the reasons why low income communities do not have access to renewables is because of what our default is. our default is fossil fuels. what we are trying to do is make nationaltransition our default to renewables and clean energy. when our default is renewable, when our default investments are clean, then all of us, by default, regardless of income, will have access to those energy sources. plans do youfic have to make this a eligible plan for fossil fuel dependent communities and economies like appalachia? again, a lot of this goes into the actual structure of what we're doing. we are laying forth a resolution, and the resolution outlines the scope of the bills that will kind of be considered green new deal projects or bills. i think that taking that approach can strategically really bring us together. to figuringforward out how we fully fund coal miners pensions. it is that economic fear that is preventing us from transitioning. we are placing the workers in thee communities, not fossil fuel corporations, but the interest of the workers first. and i know, and i know that we all have a commitment to making sure that we are not putting one type of energy forward at the expense of a communities way of life. so i look forward to cleaning the water in west virginia. i look forward to working with grassroots activists in making sure that we are protecting the environment in west virginia and making sure that all those pensions get fully funded, the wages get higher and that we have a sustained way of life. >> and while the resolution does not mention any specific technology, it talks about any technology that can dramatically reduce greenhouse gases. works,open to whatever and we will leave it to the committees and the congress to devise the smartest ways in which those technologies or example five. >> is is going to be the biggest hurdle to clear [indiscernible] 2010,pretty clear that in the x-men bill died on the senate floor and it never really came to a vote. waxman bill died on the senate for. i'm confident that this movement is going to grow so large and powerful that we are going to find republican centers -- senators who are going to want to work across the aisle to find solutions. a not, it's going to become voting issue in the 2020 election cycle. >> [indiscernible] >> the resolution deals with principles. we don't deal with any individual approach that would be taken. that is for the debate now to open up why, so we can find the smartest ways of going, but to make sure that any taxes are also fair to all the people in our society as well. a lot of times that was not a consideration, that the poorest paid the most. we are very concerned about that, but it does not mention it are of those approaches in the legislation. thank you also much for being here. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> reports indicate that bipartisan talks aimed at averting the board while dispute are at an impasse. from the sunday news shows, we hear from senators richard shelby of alabama and jon tester of montana, who are both involved in the negotiations, and white house acting chief of staff mick mulvaney. >> i think the talks are stalled right now, i'm hoping we can get off the dime later today or in the morning, because time is ticking away, but we've got some problems with the democrats dealing with eyes, that is detaining criminals they come into the u.s., and they want a cap on them. we don't want cap on that.

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