AOC: Coronavirus Pandemic Would've Been Contained Better Under Green New Deal
'With those mechanisms in place, then I do believe we would have been better off'
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Democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) claimed the COVID-19 pandemic would have been contained much better under her Green New Deal.
Ocasio-Cortez joined actress Jane Fonda for a Zoom interview backed by Greenpeace as part of Fonda's "Fire Drill Fridays" demonstrations demanding "action to transition our economy off of fossil fuels."
Fonda asked AOC:
"Do you think that had there been a Green New Deal in place in January 2020, COVID-19 would have been much easier to contain, and our health care system would have been much more resilient?"
"I absolutely think so," AOC replied.
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"If we had passed a Green New Deal by January of this year, that would mean that we had a political establishment that respects science, that is willing to mobilize and make major investments to protect the American people and frankly our global population."
She later added:
"With those mechanisms in place, then I do believe we would have been better off."
"We would have respected the science early; we would have listened to scientists," AOC said, according to The Hill.
WATCH:
"At the beginning, when we had a shortage on PPE, we didn't have to have that shortage," Ocasio-Cortez said.
"We could've used — literally, the Defense Production Act is designed for the government to mass mobilize industries to produce for the security of the American public."
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Fonda acknowledges during the segment that "the Green New Deal is not a policy document; it's a 14-page resolution laying out a vision for a ten-year mobilization to save the planet."
She notes she was skeptical over the fact that the vague plan also includes sweeping social justice initiatives.
The Green New Deal could cost as much as $93 trillion over a decade, according to experts.
Earlier this year, at the beggining of the coronavirus pandemic, President Donald Trump accused Democrats of using the COVID-19 rescue package to push for policies in the 'Green New Deal.'
Trump wrote on Twitter:
“This is not about the ridiculous Green New Deal."
“It is about putting our great workers and companies BACK TO WORK!”
