Ocasio-Cortez Gets in Fight With Top House Democrat

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is not wasting any time making a name for herself in Congress. Just ten days after her election to the House of Representatives she is already making waves and getting into fights with senior lawmakers in her own party.

According to POLITICO, Ocasio-Cortez got into a “closed-door fight” on Thursday with Rep. Frank Pallone from New Jersey. Pallone is one of the most senior Democrats in the House, and is slated to become chairman of a powerful committee in January.

Reports say that Ocasio-Cortez, in a closed door meeting of House Democrats, demanded that the party move even further left on climate change and create a special panel just to deal with the climate change issue.

“New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone, incoming chairman of the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee — backed by a number of other committee members — slammed the creation of the new climate panel,” POLITICO reported. “Pallone argued that his committee and other existing panels within the House could take on the issue aggressively.”

“My fear is that if you have a select committee, by the time the select committee gets going, gets appointed and hires staff that it might actually delay what we’re doing,” Pallone said. “We’ve got people who are in charge of these committees who are very progressive and I just don’t see the need for the select committee. I think it may actually delay what the progressives are trying to achieve.”

Ocasio-Cortez has taken a somewhat alarmist position in recent days in attempting to get attention and to promote her agenda on climate change. In one tweet she praised Nancy Pelosi while also calling attention to the dire situation we face:

“Thank you, @NancyPelosi.
We have 10 years left to plan and implement a Green New Deal before cataclysmic climate disaster.
Reinstating the Select Committee is exactly what we need to do.”

The conflict between Pallone and Ocasio-Cortez arose because she wants a Select Committee on climate change and Pallone does not.

Pallone is the incoming chairman of the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee. He has criticized the creation of the new climate panel, saying that his committee and other existing committees in the House can take on the issue sufficiently to accomplish their goals.

Concerning the fight that reportedly broke out, a spokesperson for Ocasio-Cortez said, “We’re not going to comment on the internal discussions of a meeting.”

After POLITICO’s report was published, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted:

“This is completely false – I never even have a direct interaction with him today. When did Politico turn into TMZ?”

Ocasio-Cortez, along with many others, is seeking big new government programs to save the world from the effects of climate change.

House Democratic Leader Pelosi has already called for reinstatement of the select panel on climate change that she first created over a decade ago.

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Leo Vidal

I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.