Democrats staged a resistance to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) Green New Deal gambit on Tuesday, but still saw a few defections.
The Senate roundly defeated the non-binding climate resolution from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), with 57 senators voting "no" and 43 voting "present." Every Republican voted against the bill, and Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Doug Jones (D-Ala.), and Angus King (I-Maine), who caucuses with the Democrats, joined them.
McConnell called for the Tuesday vote knowing the bill would easily lose and hoping it would put Democrats on the record as backing the controversial resolution. A handful of 2020 contenders have publicly supported the climate change-fighting proposal, but all of them voted "present" on the bill in Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's (D-N.Y.) attempt to sidestep what he labeled a "stunt" by McConnell.
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The Green New Deal calls for a major overhaul to America's infrastructure to drastically cut carbon emissions.
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