We Need a Green New Deal

TRUTHOUT.COM. MAY 6, 2009. By Norman Solomon

In the Arctic, sea ice is melting. In the United States, houses are foreclosing.

And in Washington, the Senate is becoming a real-life Bermuda Triangle for progressive agendas.

Proposals for major limits on carbon emissions aren't getting far in the Senate, where the corporate war on the environment has an abundance of powerful allies.

As for class war, it continues to rage from the top down. Last week, a dozen Democratic senators teamed up with Republicans to defeat a bill that would have allowed judges to reduce mortgages in bankruptcy courts.

President Obama supported that bill. But as The Associated Press reported, he was "facing stiff opposition from banks" and "did little to pressure lawmakers" on behalf of the measure. The Senate "defeated a plan to spare hundreds of thousands of homeowners from foreclosure through bankruptcy."

Big-money vultures are circling the Capitol dome to feast on the latest multibillion-dollar carrion, whether under the heading of "cap and trade" or "health care reform." And many billions in profits can be found inside yet another supplemental bill to fund war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, a familiar pattern is unfolding for the most important piece of labor legislation in decades - the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) - which would go a long way toward protecting the rights of workers to form unions. Obama says he supports EFCA. But there are no signs that he'll go all-out for its passage.

There are pluses and minuses on Capitol Hill these days. But on big-picture items, it's clear that environmentalists and labor rights activists are mostly up against the corporate wall - and the wall is not yielding.

We need a Green New Deal.

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