Gillibrand: I’d Tell Concerned Coal Miner the Green New Deal Is ‘Just Bipartisan Ideas’

EXCERPT:

GILLIBRAND: "Well, I explained to him that the Green New Deal is just some bipartisan ideas that will actually help the economy and his state grow. It’s involved with infrastructure, more mass transit, more high-speed rail, more rural broadband, more efficient electric grid, all things that will help Pennsylvania. It’s about green Jobs. It's about teaching young people STEM subjects so they’re ready to take green jobs, but also investing in industries like wind, solar, geothermal, hydropower and biofuels to create opportunities for innovation and growth in those sectors. And last, it's about clean air and clean water, something that they desperately need in Pennsylvania. So what I would commit to as president is I would make sure we take any worker who’s underemployed or unemployed, anyone who is displayed, by trying to tackle climate change head on with more manufacturing jobs in the energy sector. So why not replace coal mining with green energy manufacturing in that state, with wind turbine manufacture, with solar power manufacture or even with manufacturing building materials that are LED-certified and helpful to tackle climate change? Because the truth is — and he knows this, I’m sure — is it’s the greatest threat to humanity. And when we have the wildfires in California and the droughts and the tornadoes in the Midwest and flooding everywhere, people are dying. And you have to address this challenge as the great threat to humanity it is."