CNN
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New York State Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Thursday that she plans to mobilize her large follower base and oppose Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer called “acquiescence” to embrace the House GOP fundraising bill.
“I think there’s a deep sense of anger and betrayal,” Ocasio-Cortez told reporters in Leesburg, Virginia. She said she and her fellow Democrats were “sending text messages, phone calls and airline pigeons” to mobilize Democrat bases against Schumer’s plan to advance the GOP fundraising bill.
And she denounced Senate Democrats for their decision to “roll completely and give up on constitutional protections.”
Asked if Senate Democrats needed a new leader, Ocasio-Cortez would say she’s just saying she’s focusing on how the party will stop accepting the GOP bill.
“We have time to revise the course of this decision. Senate Democrats can vote for no. We can revise the course, and that’s the most important thing right now,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
The New York Democrat was one of the most vocal Democratic officials in the nation in his push to the House GOP fundraising bill. Using her social accounts, Ocasio-Cortez urged fellow Democrats across the country to put maximum pressure on her senators on the fundraising bill, the first major point of President Donald Trump’s second term leverage.
Personally, House Democrats are so upset by Schumer’s decision that some have begun encouraging her to run with Schumer at the primary, according to a Democrat member who spoke directly with Ocasio-Cortez about running at the Caucus policy retreat. The Congress’s progressive caucus and several other Democrats directly encouraged Ocasio-Cortez on Thursday night after Schumer’s announcement, the member said.
Members added that even central Democrats are “ready to write a check for the Senate AOC” because Democrats in Leesburg are “very angry,” and that “I’ve never seen anyone so angry.”
When asked about fellow Democrats from CNN who encouraged Schumer to challenge him, Ocasio-Cortez refused to answer, saying the focus is on preventing Democrats from supporting the fundraising bill. “There is still an opportunity to revise the course here.
Speaking to reporters, however, Ocasio-Cortez did not refrain from criticizing Senate Democrats for retreating from all votes except for Democrats in one battlefield home.
“We have members of Congress who have walked the board to defend Americans to defend Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare and have won Trump-owned districts in some of the hardest territories in the United States that have taken countless risks,” she said. “I think it’s a big slap in the face just to see Senate Democrats consider signing up for Elon Musk. And I think there’s a broad sense of betrayal if things are going as planned right now.”
