Rep. Ocasio-Cortez to 2020 Presidential Candidates: ‘We Can Be Audacious’

In a video posted on Twitter that has more than 1 million views, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) says she doesn’t want to be “placated as a progressive.”


On MSNBC’s “MTP Daily,” host Chuck Todd asked Ocasio-Cortez about the health care ideas from potential 2020 contenders Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).

“For me, I reject that outright,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “I reject the rationale. I reject the rationale of saying ‘adopting the same insurance models or a similar insurance model to any other developed country in America is unrealistic,’ I reject that.”

“I reject the idea that single payer is impossible, I reject the idea that universal healthcare is impossible. All of these things are possible.”

Ocasio-Cortez then talked about the 2020 presidential election.

“I want a 2020 candidate that says we can do these things; we can be audacious.”

She continued, “In order to overcome this moment, we need to return to our FDR roots as a party. That’s what I believe.”

Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts released a
resolution on Thursday “recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal,” a program calling for “new national, social, industrial, and economic mobilization on a scale not seen since World War II and the New Deal.”

It also is a push for the U.S. to reduce carbon emissions through the economy. “We’re not going to peg ourselves by the lowest standards of other nations…. Or say ‘what about them, they’re not doing it.’ We should do it because we are an example to the world,” Ocasio-Cortez
said.

The Green New Deal has been endorsed by Democrats who have launched presidential campaigns or exploratory committees including, Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

“We’re focusing on getting all the 2020 contenders to endorse the full vision of the Green New Deal and get specific about it,”

Stephen O’Hanlon, spokesman for climate activist group Sunrise Movement said.

“All of the 2020 candidates need to know that if they want to be taken seriously by young people, they need to reject fossil fuel money and back the Green New Deal.”

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