On Wednesday, Congressman Max Rose, a Democrat from New York who represents Staten island and part of Brooklyn, ripped New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal, calling it a “massive socialist economic policy platform,” and adding that it was not “economically feasible. There’s no need to lie to voters right now.”
Rose appeared on WNET’s MetroFocus with interviewer Rafael Pi Roman, who asked why he opposed the Green New Deal. Rose, a decorated veteran from the war in Afghanistan who has termed climate change a national security threat, started with his own prescription: “Let’s look at climate change in and of itself. We need urgent and bold action. I think that comes in the form of substantive cap-and-trade program; we also have to come to terms with the fact that this is a global problem, requires a global solution. We have got to get back into the Paris Agreements. Beyond that though, we need substantive and incredible technological advancement. We need Apollo projects of our generation for battery technology, for other forms of carbon-free energy production, for smart-grid systems.”
Rose then attacked the Green New Deal, saying:
All of these things have to happen; they have to happen quickly; this is not the time for Milquetoast incrementalism; it just isn’t. But with that being said, though, nothing about what I just said would provide a justification for a massive socialist economic policy platform, just not needed. We can have a separate discussion, a separate debate about whether this is the time and whether America needs those types of economic policy prescriptions, job guarantees, housing guarantees, things that on its (sic) face sound good but I just do not believe are possible. They’re not economically feasible. There’s no need to lie to voters right now. We don’t [need] the Democratic version of “Repeal and Replace.” We don’t need that.
In the same interview, Rose gave a blunt answer when Pi Roman stated that Ocasio-Cortez had been rumored to have said she was keeping a list of centrist House Democrats who did not follow the hard leftist line she espoused; Pi Roman pointed out that Rose was one of 20 or so Democrats who had joined Republicans in voting to allow ICE to be notified if an illegal immigrant tried to purchase a firearm.
Pi Roman said, “The progressives didn’t like it, and congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez vowed to keep a list of Democrats who stray from the fold.”
Rose responded: “She’s gonna keep a list?
Pi Roman: Yeah. That’s what she said. How do you respond?
Rose answered, “This is very simple, because I’m not one to deal in subtleties.
Pi Roman: I’ve heard. I have noticed.
Rose continued, “I think it’s best not to be passive-aggressive. If she wants to primary me; if the Justice Democrats want to primary me, I’ll lay out the red carpet. We can settle this at the polls.”
Pi Roman: The Justice Democrats are kind of a caucus of progressives.
Rose: This is very, very, very simple.
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