Andrew Yang proposes ‘green’ amendment to the Constitution

WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang said Wednesday that he’d like to add a new “green” amendment to the US Constitution.

The businessman and 2020 hopeful made the proposal during a seven-hour town hall on climate change that aired on CNN.

“I propose a Constitutional amendment that makes it a responsibility of the United States government to safeguard and protect our environment for future generations,” Yang said.

During the town hall, Yang had been asked by environmental activist Vic Barrett if he thought the president had a Constitutional responsibility “to end federal support of a fossil fuel energy system.”

“It endangers all citizens, especially young people like myself and future generations,” Barrett said.

Blitzer noted that Barrett was a plaintiff in the case Juliana v. United States, essentially suing the government over inaction on climate change.

“How innovative,” said Yang, a tech entrepreneur, who’s one of only three of the 20 Democratic hopefuls with no political experience.

“As I just stated, I would end all fossil fuel subsidies and I’m going to take it a step forward,” he answered, stating his plans to push for an amendment to the Constitution.

During his 40-minute segment, Yang also praised the Green New Deal, which is backed in the House by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). Although Yang said he objected to the timeline in the framework.

Yang said the current timeline for action “would do away with commercial air travel and a lot of other things in a particular time-frame, that if we had a little more time we can head in the same direction and achieve most of the same values.”

Yang’s main spiel was that he wanted to use government powers to entice businesses to act. He also pushed for using emerging technologies. Blitzer wanted to know how much choice American consumers would have in the matter.

“Are we all going to have to drive electric cars?” Blitzer pressed.

“It’s not something you have to do,” Yang answered. “It’s awesome.”

Blitzer asked again and Yang finally relented that some “legacy gas guzzlers” would be left on the roads, but the government could offer money to buy the “clunker” back.

He also pointed out that he received an endorsement from Tesla’s Elon Musk.

Blitzer also asked about President Trump’s decision to roll-back regulations on energy-saving light bulbs.

“I think he is just messing with CNN on that one,” Yang joked.

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