AOC says the GOP 'just doesn't care' about struggling Americans as stimulus talks get pushed into the weekend
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- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accused the GOP of "fighting against" efforts to seal the deal on a $900 billion coronavirus relief package.
- "We have just an insane amount of food instability in our community, and it just feels like the Republican Party in the Senate just doesn't care," she said during a meeting with her New York City constituents on Thursday.
- Her comments came a day before Congress approved a two-day funding extension to buy more time for stimulus negotiations as both sides failed to come to an agreement.
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed the GOP's handling of coronavirus stimulus talks on Thursday, saying that it feels like the Republican Senate majority " just doesn't care" about the impact it could have on ordinary Americans.
Speaking at the final town hall meeting of the year with her New York City constituents, Ocasio-Cortez accused Republicans of "fighting against" efforts to seal the deal on a $900 billion relief agreement, according to Yahoo News.
"The federal government in all of this negotiation has been getting balanced on the backs of our families here, and it's just truly unconscionable," Ocasio-Cortez said, Yahoo News reported.
"What's happening is that folks in our community are on the brink of eviction. We have just an insane amount of food instability in our community, and it just feels like the Republican Party in the Senate just doesn't care," she added.
Ocasio-Cortez, whose New York City district was particularly hard hit by the virus, also claimed that Republicans are "more passionate about corporate liability protections and essentially corporate immunity … and they don't want to authorize unemployment or stimulus checks."
"What is rather astonishing to me is that we know that there are hungry people in their states too. … There are people that are on the brink of eviction in their states too," she added, according to Yahoo News.
Her comments came a day before Congress approved a two-day funding extension to buy more time for stimulus negotiations.
The stimulus bill currently being proposed in Congress includes direct payments of $600- $700 per person, which Ocasio-Cortez called an "insultingly low amount" during the meeting, according to AM New York Metro.
Business Insider's Joseph Zeballos-Roig reported that the bill is also "likely to contain $300 weekly federal unemployment benefits."
The New York congresswoman has been very vocal about the ongoing stimulus talks, saying earlier this week that there's a sense of "urgency" because she thinks Republicans could block Democratic efforts for a larger stimulus package if the Democrats fail to control the Senate.
"I believe that once the moment Biden gets inaugurated, I think we'll start hearing from Republicans, 'Oh, this is all in the past. People are reopening their businesses,'" Ocasio-Cortez told CNN's David Axelrod in his podcast "The Axe Files."
The runoff election in Georgia on January 5 is crucial in determining whether Republicans will continue to hold on to the Senate or not.
Ocasio-Cortez told Axelrod in the podcast: "If there's not a real stimulus payment and extension of unemployment benefits," she would not support the bill.
- Read more:
- AOC urges public to tell Congress that one-time $600 stimulus checks are not enough
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says Biden's picks to handle climate change in his administration 'actually represent progress - real progress'
- GOP Sen. Ron Johnson dismisses $1,200 stimulus checks as 'mortgaging our children's future'
- Republicans and Democrats could reportedly add $600 stimulus checks to $900 billion coronavirus-relief proposal
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