McConnell plans to attack Dems' 2020 candidates over Green New Deal support. His alternative? Coal!!

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republicans are hoping they can box in Democratic presidential candidates by forcing an early vote in the Senate on the Green New Deal resolution. Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar, Julián Castro, and Kirsten Gillibrand—all of whom have declared their presidential candidacies—have pledged their support for the GND concept. McConnell clearly thinks a Republican attack will play well with the voters and make these candidates vulnerable to defeat in the election two years from now. 

It would certainly play well with the 60 percent of Republicans in the Senate and House who are climate science deniers. McConnell, of course, is one of them: "For everybody who thinks it's warming, I can find somebody who thinks it isn't," he has said. Actual meaning: “For every climate scientist who thinks it’s warming, I can find a pundit or blogger who thinks otherwise.”

What’s his energy plan? Killer coal. In this vein, he’s supported demolishing greenhouse gas emissions. And last week, he urged the federal Tennessee Valley Authority not to shut down one of its aged coal power plants—Paradise #3— because it has become uneconomic. TVA ignored him:

“Kentuckians strongly oppose moving away from coal,” McConnell said in a video address to the utility that rejected his pitch Thursday, saying it wasn’t economically feasible to keep operating the final burner at the Paradise plant in Muhlenberg County.

“Coal has helped fuel our country’s greatness and it needs to be part of our energy future,” McConnell said. [...]

The loss of jobs, along with coal’s history in the state, leaves many lawmakers wary of what they see as overly aggressive efforts to combat climate change. They’re eager to shield the coal industry from further decline and to aid miners and their families.

from Daily Kos http://bit.ly/2V54nLk