New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is done mincing words on the dire consequences that Americans are already experiencing as a result of Congress not taking climate science seriously.
Speaking at a House Financial Services Committee meeting on Tuesday, the representative tackled accusations that her Green New Deal was “elitist,” reminding her critics that just a year ago she was working as a waitress and had gotten health insurance for the first time in her life a month ago—“elite” where??
“This is about American lives, and it should not be partisan. Science should not be partisan,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
The New York freshman was responding to GOP Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy—yes, the Real World guy—who argued that the deal would increase the cost of housing for low-income and houseless people.
“If you’re a rich liberal from maybe New York or California, it sounds great because you can afford to retrofit your home or build a new home that has zero emissions, that’s energy efficient,” Duffy said.
Ocasio-Cortez referenced kids in her constituency suffering from the highest rates of childhood asthma, and the kids in Flint whose brains have been damaged as a result of drinking lead-contaminated water, water that still isn’t fully safe to drink years later. Must be pretty elitist of them to want to be in better health and experience old age!
“We talk about cost. We’re going to pay for this whether we pass a Green New Deal or not. Because as towns and cities go underwater, as wildfires ravage our communities, we are going to pay,” Ocasio-Cortez continued. “And we’re either going to decide if we’re going to pay to react, or if we’re going to pay to be proactive.”
Significant parts of the Midwest, as Ocasio-Cortez pointed out, are currently underwater right now. But sure—the Green New Deal is just the liberal, coastal elite at it again.