Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who has rocketed to such fame that she is now widely known simply as AOC, and Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), co-father of Waxman-Markey, the cap-and-trade bill that narrowly passed the House in 2009 but died in the Senate, have introduced identical resolutions to create a “Green New Deal.” H. Res. 109, S. Res. 59.

A December 2018 survey found 81 percent of registered voters liked the basic concepts. No one expects today’s Republican President and Republican Senate to adopt this resolution (which we’ll call “AOC-Markey”); it’s more of an effort to shine light on the climate crisis and to look toward the possibility of a Democratic sweep in the November 2020 elections. In Albany, however, Democrats now firmly control the Assembly, the Senate and the Governor’s office, and thus climate legislation might well pass this year. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has introduced his own version of what he labels the Green New Deal (which we’ll call the Cuomo plan), portions of which are incorporated in the Governor’s budget bill, A2008/S1508.