[ [link removed] ]Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress




In an interview with The New York Times, Alexandria shared her thoughts on
the state of the Democratic party, how we can motivate our base to turn
out, and the importance of delivering on our promises. 

We wanted to share the interview with Alexandria below which has been
lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

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Why do you feel this social policy bill has to pass as soon as possible,
at the biggest scale possible?

I think the stakes are really, really high.

The entire reason that the Progressive Caucus gave their votes [for the
infrastructure bill] was based on direct promises from the president, as
well as direct promises from more conservative Democratic holdouts. And
from House leadership as well. So if those promises don’t follow through,
it’s going to be very, very difficult for them to get votes on anything
moving forward, because the trust that was already so delicate will have
been broken.

Do you think these extended negotiations and the stuff that was cut will
have an electoral effect? Obviously the Senate will have its say, but if
the spending bill largely looks like what the House passed this week, will
Democrats say it fulfills the promise of Election Day?

I think that if we pass the Build Back Better Act as the House passed it,
that we have a shot to go back to our communities and say we delivered.
But that’s not to say that this process has not been demoralizing for a
lot of folks, because there were enormous promises made. Not just at the
beginning, and not just during the election, but that continued to be
made.

And this is where I have sounded the alarm, because what really dampens
turnout is when Democrats make promises that they don’t keep.

With the bipartisan infrastructure plan, there’s all of these headlines
going around. And I understand the political importance of making a
victory lap. But I think that the worst and most vulnerable position we
could be in is to over-promise and under-deliver.

So let’s not go around and say, “We’re going to replace every lead pipe in
this country,” because according to the bipartisan infrastructure plan,
that is not going to happen. That has not been funded. And if the Build
Back Better Act gets cut even further, then that’s definitely not going to
happen.

You and other progressives backed Biden during the general election. Do
you feel that this White House has continued to be open to the left?

And that created trust, because trust requires vulnerability from all
parties.

There was some good faith with the American Rescue Plan [Democrats’ $1.9
trillion economic stimulus package, signed in March]. But after that,
which was quite early, it’s been a bit of a slog.

I actually don’t direct this critique directly at the White House. I
think, in general, the party doesn’t quite fully grasp what is happening
in deep-blue communities.

What is it that you say they’re missing? 

The talking points are not enough.

Yes, is child care great? Absolutely. Universal pre-K, this is something
I’m deeply, deeply supportive of. But we also have too much of a top-down
strategy when it comes to our base. We’re always giving them the medicine
and telling them what they need to accept, as opposed to really monitoring
where the energy is, and being responsive to it. And allowing that to
shape our strategy.

And even with the infrastructure plan, this kind of investment is deeply
needed in underserved communities like the Bronx. However, if we as a
party are asking every single person in this party to take a victory lap,
and do a news conference in front of a bridge or pothole, and we aren’t
funding and actually fixing that pothole, I’m very concerned about how
people are going to interpret that a year from now.

But doesn’t the White House agree — didn’t it propose a more robust
package? The obvious response here is that the administration faces the
reality of a 50-50 Senate.

There is an enormous amount of executive action that they’re sitting on
that I think is underutilized. On student loans. We’ve got executive
action on the table with respect to climate. There are certainly things
that we can do with immigration.

So why are we taking this as a legislative compromise, when the
opportunity is so much greater, or when Biden could do this stuff with a
stroke of a pen, and is just reminding us that he’s choosing not to?

We always try to tell people why they need to settle for less, instead of
being able to harness the energy of our grass roots and take political
risks in service of them, the same way that we take political risks in
service of swing voters. We can do both.

Is this frustration a growing sentiment in the Democratic congressional
caucus? Or is this just you?

Frustration is there, and it’s part of why the Progressive Caucus was
holding out on passing both of these two pieces of legislation together,
because we’re like, listen, we’re not going to take these empty promises
anymore.

We went from the American Rescue Plan to six months of watching us just
hand the pen to Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. If you even look at the
[infrastructure bill], it was drafted in the Senate, and they didn’t even
allow conferencing with the House version. They said you just need to take
this legislation as is — no compromises, no edits, nothing.

You’ve got to give me something to work with, with my communities. And if
you’re not, how can I make the argument that they should turn out again?
And this notion that saying “We’re not Trump” is enough — this is such a
deeply demoralizing message.

Democrats have a trifecta and have been unable to pass voting-rights
protections. And so people can wring their hands and say “but Manchin” all
they want, or “but the filibuster” all they want, but at the end of the
day, what people see are the results of their actions and the results of
investing their time.

We are up against political nihilism. The idea that nothing we do matters,
because as long as I live in the Bronx, the political reality of this
country is that no one’s going to fight for me. That is why it’s so
important that we take some of these risks for our base.

Your party is trying to project political victory at this moment — and
pulling out all the stops to do so. You’re sounding the alarm.

Before the Virginia elections, it was very clear that our help and our
participation was not wanted or asked for, which is fine. I’m not here to
tell people how to run their races. But at the same time, to consider the
members here that have some of the tightest relationships to our political
base as just a uniform liability — and not something that can be
selectively deployed, or consulted, or anything — I think it’s just sad. I
think it was a mistake.

And we saw a big youth turnout collapse. Not a single person asked me to
send an email, not even to my own list. And then they turn around and say,
“It’s their fault.” When I think it was communicated quite expressly that
we were unwelcome to pitch in.

The idea that we just accept a collapse in youth turnout — and essentially
turn it into a self- fulfilling prophecy — in times when races are decided
by such narrow margin points: I think it’s ill-advised. 

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Thank you for reading. [ [link removed] ]If you are able, please consider making a
donation to keep Alexandria in Congress and help grow our grassroots
movement.

In solidarity, 

Team AOC


 

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