Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez To Rally for Green New Deal While Nonprofit Pledges $1 Million Donation

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York will headline the last leg of a national Sunrise Movement tour to promote the Green New Deal on May 13 at a rally on the Howard University campus in Washington, D.C.

"I’m thrilled to be joining Rep. Ocasio-Cortez to close out the tour and lay out what’s next in the Green New Deal campaign," Varshini Prakash, a co-founder of the Sunrise Movement, said after Ocasio-Cortez announced she would attend the rally.

Wallace Global Fund, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit that supports social movements, has given the Sunrise Movement $250,000 and pledged another $750,000 in grants to partner groups to advance the goals of the Green New Deal, according to U.S. News and World Report.

The namesake of WGF, Henry Wallace, was Franklin D. Roosevelt’s vice president. Roosevelt championed the expansive New Deal federal program in the 1930s to stabilize the U.S. economy after the Great Depression. The New Deal put Americans back to work through large public works projects like interstate highways, dams, national parks, and the formation of federal arts programs.

Ocasio-Cortez introduced a non-binding resolution (HR 109) in the House of Representatives in February that lays out a broad vision for the U.S. to take on climate change over the next decade. Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts introduced a companion resolution in the Senate.

Unlike a bill, a non-binding resolution is not presented to the president and does not become law. A resolution, even if approved by both chambers of Congress, would require separate legislation to realize any of the resolution’s goals.

The Green New Deal is loosely modeled on the New Deal. In contrast, the Green New Deal focuses on reducing greenhouse gas emissions through five goals over a 10-year period, to include achieving net-zero emissions, creating millions of high paying jobs, investing in infrastructure, securing clean air, water, healthy food and a sustainable environment, while promoting justice and equity, according to HR 109.

Two days after Ocasio-Cortez introduced the resolution in the House, President Trump tweeted the plan would "permanently eliminate all Planes, Cars, Cows, Oil, Gas & Military."

At a February rally in El Paso, Texas, the president repeated the same claims.

"I really don’t like their policy of taking away your car, of taking away your airplane rights, of 'let’s hop a train to California,' of 'you’re not allowed to own cows anymore!'" Trump said.

Outspoken opponents of the proposal also include Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who on Feb. 12 warned a congressional subcommittee the Green New Deal would “outlaw” gasoline, cars, plane travel, and “probably the entire U.S. military. However, the Green New Deal resolution makes no mention of these prohibitions, but a frequently-asked-question response released by Ocasio-Cortez on Feb. 7 called for a full transition from fossil fuels to 100% clean and renewable fuels.

Other members of Congress have also expressed skepticism about the feasibility of the Green New Deal including Democrats, such as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of California and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer of New York.