ALEXANDRIA Ocasio-Cortez on Wednesday called Republicans “inhumane” and “barbaric” for supposedly forcing members of her party to choose between funding stimulus checks or unemployment benefits.
Ocasio-Cortez shared a news article about the $900billion emergency rescue package that Congressional leaders from both parties have been drafting.
The package reportedly added stimulus checks that would likely amount to $600 or $700, but also reduced the time frame of unemployment benefits by up to one month.
The Democratic New York rep tweeted that “the fact that Republicans are forcing Dems to choose between stimulus money OR unemployment benefits, as if we couldn’t easily do both, is barbaric.”
“Do they know that people in red states are hungry too, or do they just not care? This is inhumane,” she concluded.
Senator Ron Wyden, who is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, held the same view as Ocasio-Cortez.
The senator shared the same story and tweeted that “the notion that Congress can’t give Americans direct checks AND unemployment benefits is a lie.”
“We know that because 10 months ago Congress provided workers with both,” Wyden tweeted, in reference to the approved Cares Act passage.
“This is a cruel last-ditch effort by Senate Republicans to scale back real aid for families.”
Democratic Senator Mark Warner said the package was not progressive since it offered one or the other.
“I don’t think there’s very much progressive about the idea that if we’re going to try to give checks to people – who’ve had no economic harm – if you’re taking it out of the hide of people that, frankly, are unemployed or you’re taking it away from food banks, you’re taking it away from mental health assistance,” Warner told Yahoo Finance.
Congressional leaders are scrambling to reach a deal on a coronavirus relief package and approve it by Friday at midnight, which is when government funding expires.
On Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy met twice in Pelosi’s office.
McConnell told reporters the leaders were “still close, and we’re going to get there.”
On Wednesday, Ocasio-Cortez told The Intercept that Pelosi “needs to be replaced as House speaker” and that “we need new leadership in the Democratic Party.”
Ocasio-Cortez said she and many people have struggled over the issue that “the internal dynamics of the House has it such that there [are] very little options or succession.”
