Heritage Foundation researcher: Green New Deal 'would devastate the economy,' hit working families hardest
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Democrats' proposed Green New Deal (GND) could end up costing households much more than they bargained for, Heritage Foundation Research Fellow Joel Griffith said Friday.
Appearing on "Fox & Friends First" Friday morning with host Heather Childers, Griffith said that the legislation's hefty $93 trillion price tag over its first 10 years would devastate working families.
"There's really nothing audacious about it except for its absolute absurdity and that's because this constitutes a federal power grab that would devastate the economy and it would hurt those working families the hardest," he stated.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}GREEN NEW DEAL WOULD COST SWING-STATE HOUSEHOLDS AROUND $75G IN FIRST YEAR: STUDY
According to Democratic politicians, the GND would end the use of fossil fuels and nuclear energy in a decade, upgrade all existing buildings to be carbon-neutral, eliminate greenhouse gas pollution from farms, and completely overhaul the U.S. transportation system.
A new report from the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, Power the Future, and the Competitive Enterprise Institute analyzed implementation costs in 11 states and found that the Green New Deal would cost the average household more than $75,000 in the first year and more than $40,000 each year after. In some states, the cost would exceed the median household incomes.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Those figures incorporate the cost of electricity production in the first year of the program, a one-time upgrade to vehicles and housing, as well as shipping and logistics costs incurred from GND mandates.
Griffith noted that, by the third year of the GND, the study shows the typical family would have an annual hit to their income amounting to $11,000.
"This is massive," he told Childers. "This would erode all of the money some of these families have for retirement savings, for basic entertainment. It would start encroaching on the very things they need to live."
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Griffith advised examining the net impact of the proposal.
"Our studies show ... that throughout the implementation of this plan we would be looking at five million jobs lost. And, that's a big number," he remarked. " ... This is impacting almost every sector negatively."
Fox News' Sam Dorman contributed to this report.