An advertisement criticizing the expense and impracticality of the “Green New Deal” is scheduled to air on MSNBC ahead of the next Democratic debate Wednesday evening in Atlanta.
The notes that if the controversial clean energy initiative were to ever pass Congress and become law, more Americans may find themselves using a manual scooter to get to grandma’s house for Thanksgiving.
The 30-second ad was created by the free-market Competitive Enterprise Institute, which has been highly critical of the proposal introduced earlier this year by freshman U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
Most Democrats who will be on the debate stage Wednesday night have publicly embraced the proposal.
The ad features a family of four preparing to bring a turkey, stuffing and other traditional Thanksgiving foods to a grandparents’ house — on scooters, thanks to sky-high gas prices spurred by the plan’s proposals to combat climate change.
“The Green New Deal has sent the price of gas through the roof!” says “Dad” in the ad, while “Mom” responds that “Desperate times call for desperate measures.”
The family rides off on scooters as they are balancing the Thanksgiving feast, but one of the pies lands on the driveway.
“Since Washington politicians are asking the American people to support energy rationing that will lead to higher costs and a complete restructuring of our economy, CEI is asking families to imagine what life would be like under the Green New Deal,” said CEI president and CEO Kent Lassman in a statement.
All leading Democratic presidential contenders have either embraced the Green New Deal or elements of its emissions-reducing proposals. The plan calls for net-zero emissions by the year 2030.
Five of the candidates — Sens. Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Bernard Sanders and Elizabeth Warren — have cosponsored the initiative.
The American Action Forum analyzed its proposals and concluded that the plan would cost between $51 trillion and $93 trillion over a decade.
“The Green New Deal would cost families tens of thousands of dollars in higher energy, housing, and logistics costs and everyone should think about how those higher costs would affect their daily lives,” Lassman said.