The Green New Deal would bankrupt the nation, according to a new study that found it would cost up to $94 trillion dollars to implement.
A study from the American Action Forum found that, in a conservative estimate, it would cost over $600,000 per household over a ten year period.
The study explains that the “heart of the GND is an effort to curb carbon emissions and thus to slow climate change, but the package contains a wide set of other policy proposals that are not directly linked to climate policy: a job guarantee, food and housing security, and a variety of social justice initiatives.”
Since much of the GND is extremely vague, the study focused on the proposals for:
- A 10-year transition to an exclusively low-carbon energy electricity grid;
- Enough high-speed rail transit available that air travel becomes unnecessary;
- Guaranteeing union jobs with a family-sustaining wage, adequate family and medical leave, paid vacations, and retirement security to all people of the United States;
- Universal health care;
- Guaranteed housing for every American; and
- Food security for every person in the United States.
The Free Beacon reports that the American Action Forum calculated guaranteed green housing would cost between $1.6 trillion and $4.2 trillion; a federal jobs guarantee between $6.8 trillion and $44.6 trillion; a net zero emissions transportation system between $1.3 trillion and $2.7 trillion; a low-carbon electricity grid for $5.4 trillion; and “food security” for $1.5 billion.
“The American Action Forum’s analysis shows that the Green New Deal would bankrupt the nation,” Sen. John Barrasso (R., Wyo.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, told the Free Beacon.
“On the upper end, every American household would have to pay $65,000 per year to foot the bill,” he said. “The total price tag would be $93 trillion over 10 years. That is roughly four times the value of all Fortune 500 companies combined. That’s no deal.”
Barrasso’s office estimates it would also skyrocket electric bills by up to $3,800 per year.
Overall, the study found that the burden to taxpayers would be roughly $361,010 and $653,010 for each American household over 10 years.
