U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy has compared the Green New Deal proposal floated by U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to the 1960s space program.

In a Sunday interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” the Connecticut Democrat pushed back at concerns raised by U.S. Sen. Angus King of Maine and Obama former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz that the plan was not realistic in aiming for 100 percent of the national power demand with renewable and zero-emission energy.

“I think it’s absolutely realistic and we need to set our sights high,” Murphy said. “There are a lot of people who said it wasn’t realistic for the United States to get a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s, when President Kennedy initially outlined that goal but we did it. And I think we have to set our sights high.”

Murphy also said that he has a 10-year-old and 7-year-old, and the notion of harsh environmental disruptions created by climate change was a serious danger to the future.

“Global warming is an existential threat to the planet,” he said. “And, so, if we don’t command this country to think big about saving our nation and our world from destruction, then I don’t think we’re going to get close to meeting the mark.”