MSNBC "All in with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Ed Markey
Interview
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REID: A massive transformation of our society is necessary if we want to save our planet, that is the big message being offered by the architect of the Green New Deal: Democratic Senator Ed Markey and Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The wide ranging framework, introduced today, calls for drastic actions and a complete transition to clean and renewable energy in just 10 years.
Republicans are already dismissing the resolution as a quote socialist manifesto. The proponents say a moon shot is necessary to prevent the looming environmental catastrophe.
Joining me now is Democratic Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts, the co- architect of The Green New Deal.
All right, sir, so let`s just get into the policy of it. You -- the Green New Deal, as I understand it, the bullet points I`ve got in front of me, 100 percent clean, renewable energy by 2030, net zero global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, upgrade all existing buildings for energy efficiency, overhaul transportation systems to reduce emissions, encrypt millions of jobs with family sustaining wage. How do you do that, and how much does it cost?
SEN. ED MARKEY, (D) MASSACHUSETTS: Well, and create millions of jobs in the green economy, that`s what is going to happen. We`ve already created 350,000 wind and solar jobs, just in the last 10 years. There are only 50,000 coal miners. So, we`re just beginning.
This is going to be a mission to save all of creation by engaging in massive job creation.
REID: But how
MARKEY: And the reason we have to do it is that the United Nations scientists last year said that it`s much worse than anyone ever thought. And then, all of the key scientists inside of the Trump administration federal agencies all said the same thing.
So the only person who forgot to mention climate change was Donald Trump in his hour-and-twenty-minute State of the Union Address on Tuesday night. The existential threat to the planet not a comment.
So we need to mobilize all across the country. We need to put together a plan that will put people to work deploying these new technologies and inventing these new technologies, and I think the challenge is out there, and I think the green generation is ready to politically fight for it.
REID: So, I still want to get you to sort of quantify for me how much it cost, because that it sounds like you`re saying federal outlays to sort of spur these jobs sort of the that the original New Deal was like with federal spending.
So, how much spending are we talking about? Give me a ballpark figure.
MARKEY: Well, we don`t have any specific prescriptions in the legislation. We layout the principles. But I will say this, that by the year 2100, we`re going to have lost tens of trillions dollars to the damage which is going to be created by climate change to our country. And a stitch in time will save nine. If we invest now, we`ll be able to avoid the most catastrophic consequences, otherwise the price that will be paid is going to be in the tens of trillions in our country and that will just be a footnote compared to the rest of the world.
So we will have to invest in green technologies, and the federal government will have a role, but most of the role will be played by the private sector, that`s where the 350,000 wind and solar jobs are. There are electricians, there are roofers, it`s the greatest single blue collar job creation revolution in two generations in our country.
REID: Let me ask you about what the impediments are, one of the big ones would be the big fossil fuel guys, people like the Koch Brothers, who are very invested in growing their money and who have a lot of influence over politicians, particularly in the other party.
How do you overcome the opposition of people like them?
MAREY: You`re right. Back in 2009 and `10 when Congressman Henry Waxman and I and Nancy Pelosi were able to pass out of the House of Representatives a piece of legislation that would have reduced greenhouse
gases by 80 percent by 2050, the Koch Brothers, the oil interests, they spent a fortune to discredit the whole science of climate change.
And they did a good job. They actually drove down the favorability by about 20 points. The difference now is that the polling is back up in the mid 70s, but now we have an army, we have the money. We`re ready to fight. So bring it on, Koch brothers, because we have an activated sunrise revolution that`s taking place across this country and we`ll either win on the floor of the House and Senate on the issues, or we`ll take this right into the election of 2020 at the presidential level and at the House and Senate level all across our country.
REID: And very quickly, what is the timeline for getting a piece of legislation to the floor and you think it will pass the House? And can it pass the Senate?
MARKEY: Well, now, it goes to each one of the individual committees to produce the legislation in each one of those areas that they will have jurisdiction for and I know that`s going to happen over in the House of Representatives, because Nancy Pelosi is a leader to her core on this issue.
REID: Yes.
MARKEY: And then the pressure is going to be on in the Senate. Mitch McConnell has blocked in, going back to the Waxman-Markey bill in 2009, any real votes on the floor on these issues. We`re ready to have a political showdown on climate change.
REID: All right, well, we shall see. We`ll be watching. Senator Ed Markey, thank you so much for your time tonight. I really appreciate it.
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