During a House Oversight Committee hearing on Tuesday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called out Republicans for attacking the Green New Deal as “socialism” while also supporting billions of dollars in subsidies to the fossil fuel industry.
“It is not responsible to complain about anything we dislike as ‘socialism,’ particularly when many of our colleagues across the aisle are more than happy to support millions and potentially billions of dollars in government subsidies and carve-outs for the oil and gas and fossil fuel industry,” said the New York congresswoman.
“So the fact that subsidies for fossil fuel corporations are somehow smart but subsidies for solar panels is ‘socialist’ is just bad faith. And it’s incorrect,” she continued. “And I think it’s important to support and propose the fact that we need bold action.”
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“It‘s not responsible to complain about anything that we dislike as ‘socialism’ when many of our colleagues across the aisle are more than happy to support millions and potentially billions in government subsidies…for the…fossil fuel industry.” –@AOC pic.twitter.com/fDjotvBQbI
— Waleed Shahid (@_waleedshahid) April 9, 2019
Ocasio-Cortez also slammed her Republican colleagues for fervently criticizing the Green New Deal resolution without appearing to have read the short document.
“While I’m flattered that the ranking member and many members across the aisle seem to be so enamored with a non-binding resolution presented by a freshman congresswoman sworn in three months ago, I think that ironically, despite that fixation, it doesn’t seem that they’ve actually read the contents of the proposed and presented resolution,” said the congresswoman.
“We don’t need cliff notes for a 14-page resolution that was designed to be read in plan English by the American people,” she concluded. “So I would encourage my colleagues to actually read the resolution presented, so they can speak to it responsibly and respectfully.”