By Dino Grandoni with Alexandra Ellerbeck, Washington Post Joe Biden walked a fine line on the Green New Deal during the first presidential debate – first touting the sweeping climate change plan embraced by liberal activists as a job creator and then disavowing it.  Fox News host Chris Wallace put the former vice president on the spot about the plan that has earned rapturous support among some younger voters animated by the issue of rising global temperatures – a group Biden has struggled to recruit. Biden emphasized that he has his own plan for tackling climate change separate from the outline put forward last year by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.).  “I don’t support the Green New Deal,” Biden said when pressed by Wallace. “I support the Biden plan I put forward.”  While Biden has managed in the past to praise the Green New Deal without fully endorsing it, his most recent comments in front of a live television audience have the potential to reopen old intraparty wounds. Sensing a weak spot, President Trump sought to turn the exchange into a wedge between Democratic Party’s liberals and moderates.  “Oh, well, that’s a big statement,” Trump responded, talking over Biden as he often did during Tuesday evening’s ugly and rancorous event. “That means you just lost the radical left.” Joe Biden during last night’s presidential debate. Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) Biden has spent months reconciling the climate demands of his party’s liberal and moderate wings.  Over the spring, Biden revamped his climate plan after it failed to impress young climate activists. The youth-led Sunrise Movement, which backed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) during the primary, gave his initial proposal an “F.”  Biden’s pivot to the left, unusual for a candidate who just locked down his party’s nomination, resulted in a more extensive plan that called for spending $2 trillion over four years to eliminate carbon emissions from the power sector by 2035 through a set of mandates. Aiming to own the issue during the debate, Biden vowed to rejoin the Paris climate accord and to pressure Brazil to stop the destruction of the Amazon. He promised transitioning to cleaner energy would be an economic boon and would creating “hard, hard, good jobs by making sure the environment is clean.” Read the full story If you liked this post you’ll love our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics. It’s packed with the latest news, commentary and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Don’t take our word for it, try it free for an entire month. No obligation.