Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, is preparing a $450 billion climate change initiative that aims to replace about a fifth of the nation’s traditional gasoline-powered vehicles with hybrid, electric or hydrogen fuel-cell cars and trucks in the next 10 years.
The senator’s clean car plan is the first specific climate policy proposal he has put forward since an interview with The Times in March, in which Mr. Schumer laid out plans for Democrats to “go on offense on climate change” in the 2020 political campaigns.
Mr. Schumer’s new plan is aimed at rapidly replacing 63 million of the 270 million cars on American roads with zero-emissions or near-zero-emissions vehicles. If enacted, it would take a significant slice out of carbon dioxide pollution from automobiles, America’s largest producer of planet-warming emissions.