Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York said during a Monday interview on MSNBC that she represents as many or possibly even more people than Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), a claim that appears to be inaccurate.
Manchin, who has long voiced concerns about the massive Build Back Better spending legislation being pushed by the Biden administration and Democratic lawmakers, said during an interview on “Fox News Sunday” that he will not vote to pass the plan.
Manchin told Bret Baier of Fox News, “I’ve always said this, Bret, if I can’t … explain it to the people of West Virginia, I can’t vote for it. And I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation, I just can’t. I’ve tried everything humanly possible. I can’t get there,” Manchin said.
During an interview on “Morning Joe,” Ocasio-Cortez pushed back against Manchin’s comment.
“So, the idea that Joe Manchin says he can’t explain this back home to his people, is a farce,” she said. The congresswoman said that it represents a “farce” when it comes to the issue of “democracy, because I represent more, or just, just as many or more people than Joe Manchin does. Perhaps more.”
The congresswoman’s suggestion appears to be factually inaccurate.
New York’s 14th Congressional District has an estimated population of 696,664, based on the 2019 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The total population of West Virginia was 1,793,716, the 2020 census found, according to bureau.
Manchin, who as a senator represents the entire state of West Virginia, received more than 290,000 votes during his 2018 re-election bid, while Ocasio-Cortez received more than 152,000 votes when she won her 2020 re-election contest.
“God forbid, that, that they might actually have to show up and stand or, or sit and actually have to talk and actually live out the threat of their filibuster. I mean, it is, it is unconscionable, the way that the Senate operates. It’s fundamentally undemocratic,” Ocasio-Cortez said during the interview on MSNBC.
The progressive congresswoman said that “what we really need to do is crackdown on the Senate” and “implement some institutional discipline.”
She said that lawmakers who “want to threaten dysfunction” should have to make their stand in person and engage in a “talking filibuster,” though she said “that is the compromise because there shouldn’t even be a filibuster in the first place.”
“And we cannot allow, we cannot allow the climate crisis to become a catastrophe … which is what is represented right now with this bill going by the wayside or being trimmed down any further. Because as I’ve said in the House Democratic caucus, some of us are actually gonna have to live on this planet in 50 years. And right now, what happens right now determines how bad it’s going to be,” she said.
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez: We Are Beyond The Time For Something On Voting Rights To Pass youtu.be