'No middle ground': Ocasio-Cortez and activists take aim at Biden at Green New Deal rally [View all]

[Uncle Joe]

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The show of organizing force, which packed the Cramton Auditorium at Howard University, was designed in part to send a message to wobbly or skeptical Democrats -- like Biden -- who have yet to embrace the framework of the radical proposal. The Green New Deal calls for a "10-year mobilization to achieve greenhouse gas neutrality" and is a comprehensive vision that would fundamentally overhaul the US economy. It also includes a jobs guarantee and other expensive provisions designed to protect American workers during the transition.

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The Sunrise Movement's public ascent began late last year, shortly after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a jarring report that declared "there is no documented historic precedent" for the rate and scale of reform needed to blunt the current pace -- and potential deadly impacts -- of global warming.

In the months since, climate change has vaulted to the forefront of the debate within the Democratic Party and among its 2020 presidential primary contestants. A series of recent natural disasters -- from the California wildfires to flooding in the Midwest -- and new reports, including one from the United Nations this month that found one million species at risk of extinction because of human activity, have combined to grow the sense of crisis into the mainstream.

The issue topped a CNN poll of top issues for Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents last month, with 82% saying it was "very important" that the candidates support "taking aggressive action to slow the effects of climate change." Only 43% said the same when asked about "impeaching Donald Trump."

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/13/politics/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-bernie-sanders-green-new-deal-rally/index.html