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Confronted on Camera: Kids Press Sen. Dianne Feinstein Over Green New Deal

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF/AP) -- A group of young activists confronted U.S. senator Dianne Feinstein in her Bay Area office on Friday, demanding she support a "Green New Deal" that other Democrats have proposed.

In a 15-minute video of the impromptu Friday meeting posted to Facebook captures the students and Feinstein are seen in a sometimes-tense discussion of the merits of the so-called Green New Deal -- an ambitious plan to shift the U.S. economy from fossil fuels to renewable sources such as wind and solar power.

The students passionately urged the California Democrat to support the legislation. But Feinstein, a 27-year veteran of the Senate, argued that the legislation had no chance of passing the Republican-controlled chamber.

"That resolution will not pass the Senate and you can take that back to whoever sent you here and tell them," Feinstein responded after the students insisted the legislation was badly needed. "I've been in the Senate for over a quarter of a century and I know what can pass and I know what can't pass."

The middle and high school kids are part of a group called "The Sunrise Movement" and after the meeting they tweeted that the senator "seems to be stuck in the past."

Sen. Feinstein said she does not respond to ultimatums. She also pointed out that she was recently re-elected by a margin of nearly one million votes in California. She later tweeted:

"Unfortunately, it was a brief meeting but I want the children to know they were heard loud and clear. I have been and will remain committed to doing everything I can to enact real, meaningful climate change legislation."

After the encounter and social media posts, the Democratic Sen. Feinstein has pulled in praise from pundits on the right. Two prominent conservative writers, Ben Shapiro and Erick Erickson, tweeted that they now "love" Feinstein.

© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report

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