Democrats Shift toward Impact on Jobs as Climate Change Moves to Front of 2020 Agenda

by Michael Sherer (Washington Post) ... Democrats preparing to run for president have been rushing to shift their plans for combating climate change, highlighting an issue once considered a political liability, especially in Midwestern swing states won by President Trump.

Aides to a half-dozen senators considering a 2020 campaign met with supporters of the Green New Deal, an effort pushed by Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) that could turn into a litmus test for Democratic candidates, organizers said. Other potential candidates are weighing activist demands to swear off donations from the political action committees or executives of companies involved in fossil fuel production.

At least three potential candidates, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) have made clear that they intend to make climate change a central issue of their campaign if they do run.

At the core of the push is a broader effort by some party leaders to reframe the political debate over climate away from policies that would impose new costs on carbon pollution — through taxes or a cap-and-trade program — toward a focus on investing in energy conservation and efficiency as a way to spark economic development, especially in economically depressed areas.

Sanders, who previously endorsed a large carbon tax plan, has said he will also announce a plan next year to create millions of jobs as part of an effort to combat climate change.

He (Stephen O’Hanlon, a spokesman for the Sunrise Movement) said the group has been meeting with representatives of Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Merkley and Sanders — all of whom are pondering presidential runs.

Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.), the only declared congressional Democrat running for president, has said politicians still need to lead with market-based solutions such as a carbon tax, while emphasizing that the “dividends” from new taxes will be distributed back to the public.

“Whatever approach you take, it will inevitably be a big jobs program,” he said of a recent carbon tax bill he introduced in the House.

But climate change solutions could create problems for Democrats in Midwestern states that continue to rely heavily on fossil fuels for electricity generation and jobs. Trump, who has repeatedly denied the climate threat and boosted the fossil fuel industry, has made clear the promotion of oil, natural gas and coal is likely to be a major part of his reelection effort.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), a potential presidential candidate, boasted during his 2012 campaign about his support for “coal jobs,” the recent growth in coal production in the state and his efforts to resist new regulations of coal power plants. President Barack Obama also supported “clean coal” during his 2008 election campaign and backed an “all-of-the-above” energy strategy in 2012.

Brown was one of several Democrats who expressed concern in 2009 about the House-passed effort to impose a cap-and-trade system that would have put a price on carbon emissions, though he has supported raising fuel economy standards, preserving Obama’s “Clean Power” regulations and providing tax credits for wind, solar and biofuel generation.

“I’ve never bought that you play off workers against the environment, because what I have seen is good environmental policy means more good jobs,” he said recently on Pod Save America, a liberal podcast, when he was asked about the Green New Deal.

Tom Steyer, an investor and environmental activist who is also considering a presidential campaign, has argued that the worst thing Democrats can do to tackle climate change is to push top-down solutions such as a carbon tax. READ MORE

Excerpt from Politico's Morning Energy: Democrats' quick embrace of Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Select Committee for a Green New Deal has left some in the party worried about reopening old wounds between environmental groups and labor unions, Pro's Zack Colman reports this morning. "It is incumbent on some of us to provide that bridge ... and it's also to the advocates at both ends to realize that their individual agendas are not going to be accomplished without each other," Grijalva said.

Ocasio-Cortez or her allies have reached out to unions including the AFL-CIO, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and United Steelworkers, an activist familiar with the effort told Zack. And various factions have also convened meetings with groups like the Center for American Progress and the Blue Green Alliance. But major unions are taking a wait-and-see approach until more details are filled in of what exactly a Green New Deal would entail. In the past, tension between environmental activists and union members have disrupted Democratic action over issues like the Dakota Access Pipeline, or a ban on fossil fuel contributions to the DNC.

While some unions have backed the Green New Deal, others remain unconvinced that environmentalists understand the reality that union members who work in energy intensive industries face. Case in point: On Tuesday, Laborers International President Terry O'Sullivan is scheduled to join the Chamber of Commerce's Karen Harbert to promote a report warning against "the anti-energy 'Keep It In the Ground' movement." READ MORE