Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell shut down a reporter about the wide-sweeping HR1 during a Wednesday question-and-answer session.
Reporter: “Why is the Green New Deal getting a vote in the Senate when HR1 is not?”
Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell: “Because I get to decide what we vote on.” pic.twitter.com/StjnPoYLez
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) March 6, 2019
“Why is the Green New Deal getting a vote in the Senate when HR1 is not?” an unidentified reporter asked McConnell. He immediately replied, “Because I get to decide what we vote on.” (RELATED: Democrats Divided On ‘Green New Deal’)
HR1 is a wide-sweeping measure that handles multiple issues long favored by Democrats. The 571-page measure aims to overhaul four key topics: voting, political money, redistricting and ethics.
The bill would, if it were enacted into law, take the power to create voting districts away from the states and create independent commissions. It would also impose a code of ethics on the justices of the Supreme Court, and another measure would finance candidates from federal funds as long as the candidate agreed to take only small-dollar donations, a favorite Democratic talking point.
The Green New Deal is also far-reaching and aims to ultimately destroy air travel in favor of public transportation and fast rail projects. That measure isn’t universally accepted among Democrats, and it’s possible that by bringing the measure to a vote, it gets Democratic senators on the record regarding where they stand on the issue.