Graves: Green New Deal stinks worse than a heifer with an upset stomatch

(From Sixth District Congressman Sam Graves)

Sometimes you read something that makes you think it must have come from a satire website. I had that experience last week when I read about a plan that said we could save the planet if we just replaced or upgraded every building in the United States and "get rid of airplanes and farting cows!" It turns out it wasn’t a joke or a bad dream, it was the “Green New Deal.”

The plan is an actual resolution that is being offered up by some of the new liberal members of Congress to deal with climate change. However, upon further review, the plan is just a framework to completely reshape our country into something unrecognizable.

In addition to putting a stop to bovine flatulence, the plan wants the government to pay for healthcare, jobs, wages, housing, food, college and even “guarantee economic security to those unwilling to work.” That’s right, according to the “Green New Deal,” if you don’t want to work, you should still get paid. The only thing green about this deal is the amount of money that you and I are going to have to shell out to pay for it.

It’s no surprise that a price tag hasn’t been put on the plan and there is no proposed method to pay for it. However, some of the same representatives that put this forward have also proposed incredibly high tax rates of 70% and above. Essentially, if you’re willing to work and you’re successful, you should pay for the people who aren’t. According to the plan, all of this will result in “shared prosperity.” What it will actually result in is “shared poverty.”

The “Green New Deal” is just a grab bag of policies that no sane or successful country should or would adopt. Don’t think for a second, though, that bits and pieces of the proposal won’t try to find their way into other pieces of legislation. We’ve fought hard in the past to keep economically disastrous policies that affect our food, transportation, electricity and other basic needs from becoming law and it looks like we have a fight on our hands again.

While it is true that a heifer with an upset stomach isn’t particularly pleasant to be around, the “Green New Deal” stinks way worse. While being done under the guise of saving the planet, it is intended to remake our economy and our nation. Thankfully, most of what’s been proposed can’t even be discussed with a straight face. However, we must remain vigilant to ensure that outlandish proposals like this don’t become serious legislation.