In a spectacular defeat, The U.S. Senate voted down Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal 57-0, with 43 members simply voting “present”. A number of high-profile Democrats joined Republicans to show their disapproval of what many called a radical plan that would limit energy and travel options for most Americans.
Democratic Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, and Doug Jones of Alabama all voted no as did Independent Senator Angus King.
The vote was preceded by a colorful speech by Republican Senator Mike Lee, who mocked the Green New Deal in a speech on the Senate floor.
During the speech, Lee said this:
“After reading the Green New Deal, I’m mostly afraid of not being able to get through this speech with a straight face — I rise today to consider the Green New Deal with the seriousness it deserves.”
Lee used a variety of cartoonish photos to illustrate what he perceived as the ridiculousness of the proposal, adding that if airline travel was banned, Hawaiians would need ‘a massive fleet of giant, highly trained sea horses’ to get around, while displaying a graphic depicting comic book hero “Aquaman” riding a seahorse.
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