Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said Tuesday he has joined with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., on a resolution to declare climate change as an emergency because the crisis is not just national, but global, and he finds it "painful and embarrassing" President Donald Trump "considers climate change to be a hoax."
"What the president of the United States should be doing instead of denying the reality of climate change, he should be leading the entire world working with Russia and India and China and Brazil and the entire planet," the Democratic presidential candidate told MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell.
"(He should) tell them that instead of spending $1.5 trillion on weapons of destruction, maybe we should use those resources and work together to fight our common enemy, which is climate change," Sanders continued. "I have four kids and seven grandchildren. I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that the planet we live -- we leave to future generations is a planet that is healthy and a planet that is habitable. This is a national emergency and we have got to respond accordingly."
The legislation introduced Tuesday demands that Congress votes to recognize climate change as a national emergency, said Sanders, and then "we go from there."
There has been some progress with wind and solar energy, said Sanders, but that just touches the surface.
"We have got to do an enormous amount more if we're going to save this planet and we've got to lead the world," said Sanders. "And by the way, Andrea, when we do this, we're going to create millions and millions of good paying jobs"
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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