Supporters of the progressive climate-change resolution known as the Green New Deal again pushed U.S. Rep. Susan Wild during an event Tuesday evening to offer her support for that proposal.
The issue arose during a question-and-answer event organized by NextGen Pennsylvania, which mobilized young voters to support Democratic candidates during last year’s elections.
As she did during a town hall event last month in Nazareth, Wild said she views climate change as an urgent problem and that she supports the goals of the Green New Deal.
The resolution, introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Sen. Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts, sets goals for eliminating carbon emissions in ways that would dramatically overhaul the U.S. economy. It’s expected to receive a vote in the U.S. Senate next week.
Wild says she wants to see more specifics of how the proposal would work before she will sign on, including how those who currently work in the fossil fuel industry would be assisted in transitioning to other jobs.
“I think the aspirations of the Green New Deal are wonderful, and I think they’re exactly on point, but what I want to know is, what are we doing to do to implement those things?” Wild asked, describing parts of the resolution as “very broad.”
Several audience members pushed back, urging her to sign on as a cosponsor and work with other supports to address any issues she has with the proposal.
Wild emphasized other climate-change efforts she’s involved in, including a task force working on policy proposals and backing a carbon dividends bill.
She also fielded questions on immigration, telling the audience that she stands by her vote against funding for the border wall construction that the President Donald Trump has sought, and on her role on the ethics committee.
Two back-to-back questions came from opposite ideological perspectives: asking how the Democratic congresswoman has sought to represent Republicans — and what the best approach is for resisting Trump.
On the former, Wild said she’s been working with GOP lawmakers on bipartisan legislation and sought to get to know legislators on the other side of the political aisle.
As for her role in regard to the president, Wild said she has her concerns about Trump and his administration, but that she focused her time and attention more on legislation than oversight.
“There are people in Congress who will be spending a lot of time on oversight and investigations, and I think they should be,” Wild said. “But that’s not my focus. I think it’s more important, at least in this particular part of the country, to work on real solutions.”
