A GOP senator brought a giant picture of Ronald Reagan riding a dinosaur onto the Senate floor to argue against Democrats’ Green New Deal

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• Republican Sen. Mike Lee mocked the Democrats’ Green New Deal proposal in remarks on the Senate floor on Tuesday. 
• Lee brought out a picture of President Ronald Reagan riding a dinosaur to treat the subject with the "seriousness it deserves."
• The Utah senator said the aspirations of the resolution are "ridiculous." 

Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah brought a picture of former President Ronald Reagan riding a dinosaur to a procedural vote on the Democrats’ Green New Deal — a sweeping proposal for radical environmental and social legislation — in an effort to treat the subject with the "seriousness it deserves." 

"Unlike some of my colleagues, I’m not immediately afraid of what carbon emissions unaddressed might do to our environment in the near-term future, or our civilization, or our planet in the next few years," Lee said as he addressed his colleagues. "Unlike others, I’m not immediately afraid of what the Green New Deal would do to our economy and our government. After all, this isn’t going to pass. Not today. Not anytime soon, certainly." 

Lee added that after reading the Green New Deal, he is "mostly afraid" of "not being able to get through this speech with a straight face." 

Read more: Obama reportedly warned freshman Democrats to expect tough questions about their ambitious progressive policies

"I rise today to consider the Green New Deal with the seriousness it deserves," Lee said, before presenting the image of Reagan atop a velociraptor while holding a machine gun.

He continued, "This, of course, is a picture of former President Ronald Reagan, firing a machine gun while riding on the back of a dinosaur."

As far as we know, Reagan never rode a dinosaur in his lifetime — even during his career as an actor. 

"There was no battle with, or without, velociraptors. The cold war was won without firing a shot," Lee said, adding that the image he presented has as much to do "with overcoming communism in the 20th century as the Green New Deal has to do with overcoming climate change in the 21st."

Read more: Senate Republicans are preparing a ‘bluff-vote’ on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal — and Democrats are furious at the move

The Utah senator said the aspirations of the resolution are "ridiculous." 

As Lee continued to mock the goals of the Green New Deal, he continued to show fictional images with references to "Star Wars" as well as "Aquaman."

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has led the charge for the Green New Deal, ridiculed Lee over his Tuesday performance in a tweet. 

"GOP Senators are using their Congressional allowances to print Aquaman posters for themselves to argue that a #GreenNewDeal saving our nation from climate change is a ‘waste of money,’" she said.

 

The Green New Deal’s overall aim is to make the US economy carbon-neutral by transitioning to 100% renewable energy, while simultaneously creating jobs and stimulating the economy. It’s widely considered to be among the most radical legislative proposals to address climate change yet, which Lee alluded to on Tuesday.  

NOW WATCH: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is being praised for her line of questioning at Michael Cohen’s hearing — watch it here

See Also:

• Obama reportedly warned freshman Democrats to expect tough questions about their ambitious progressive policies
• Senate Republicans are preparing a ‘bluff-vote’ on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal — and Democrats are furious at the move
• Only 12% of Republican Fox News viewers believe climate change is man-made

SEE ALSO: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and team attempt damage control after a fumbled Green New Deal rollout that included a line about paying Americans ‘unwilling to work’

Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (John Haltiwanger)