For over a month, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) refused to acknowledge that the unveiling of her long-awaited Green New Deal in February was a failure. But that all changed on Friday.
In an interview with MSNBC, Ocasio-Cortez finally admitted that the rollout of her Green New Deal was botched. Like a true politician, however, she had her excuses ready.
The freshman Democrat blamed “a staffer that had a very bad day” for what she called a premature release of the proposal.
Remembering the rollout
In February, members of the House and Senate got their first glimpse at the fantastical Green New Deal in outline form. Many Democrats, including 2020 hopefuls, embraced it.
But the plan took a major hit after Ocasio-Cortez and her staff released a six-page Green New Deal FAQ, which she sent to media outlets and posted on her website. Among its lofty and, many would say, unachievable goals were economic security for all (including those who are “unwilling” to work), the elimination of trains and airplanes, and a reduction in the number of hamburgers Americans eat.
“We set a goal to get to net-zero, rather than zero emissions, in 10 years because we aren’t sure that we’ll be able to fully get rid of farting cows and airplanes that fast,” the FAQ sheet read.
With such statements, the document read like a joke. Democrats distanced themselves from the deal as criticism rained down, and some estimated the cost to implement the proposal would be as much as $93 trillion.
The resolution was recently voted on by the Senate, where 57 Senators voted against it. Forty-seven voted “present.”
AOC comes clean
Still, Ocasio-Cortez stayed firm in her defense of the plan — until Friday. The freshman congresswoman told MSNBC host Chris Hayes that the FAQ was really just a working draft to get people talking.
“[We] did release a working draft early, so I get that that is what they’re seizing on,” she said. “But really, what we need to do is have a serious conversation. And even in those draft versions, what they were talking about is really about the fact that we need to innovate on our technology.”
She went on to agree with Hayes that the fact that the document mentioned cow flatulence was “an issue” before placing the blame solely on her staff.
“I definitely had a staffer that had a very bad day at work,” she said, passing the buck like a true Washington politician. They grow up so fast.
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