New Representative-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, and she’s different than many in that she is from a solidly middle-class background. As she gets ready to take her seat in the United States House of Representatives, she shares her experiences with her new constituents and the rest of the U.S. Most recently, Ocasio-Cortez took aim at the congressional orientation program at Harvard Kennedy School.
After attending the event, Ocasio-Cortez said it is a “pro-corporate lobbyist project,” according to a report from Business Insider . She said that the orientation not only promoted corporate tax cuts but also argued against an increased minimum wage. Other incoming House Democrats like Ayanna Pressley and Lori Trahan also stood beside Ocasio-Cortez in protesting what they feel is a sham of an orientation program.
Since the 1970s this is the event that orients new people to the U.S. Congress, and it’s comprised of lobbyists and bankers with no effort to represent workers or any types of grassroots efforts.
On Sunday, Ocasio-Cortez took to Twitter to express her outrage.
“This Harvard session has been going on for new Congress members since the 70s. This year we heard things like ‘the $2T tax cut was great’ and ‘$15 wage is a bad idea.’ No labor reps were there. Was this a multi-decade, pro-corporate lobbyist project the entire time?”
For three days, new members of Congress attend the event, which is hosted by the Harvard Institute of Politics along with the Congressional Institute, the American Enterprise Institute, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The goal of the event is to help those who attend “forge bipartisan relationships and learn practical skills of lawmaking just one month prior to taking the oath of office.”
.@Ocasio2018 and @Abby4Iowa reported incomes of less than $30k, and won their congressional races. They are the exception to the rule. How do candidates for Congress run a campaign, an expensive and time-consuming operation? Here are some tricks: https://t.co/T3uV2fzLo4
— Ashley Balcerzak (@abalcerzak) December 10, 2018
Newly elected Democrat Rashida Tlaib also pointed out that Gary Cohn, a former economic adviser for President Donald Trump, told the upcoming Congressional freshmen that they are in over their heads and don’t understand how the game is played. In response, Tlaib tweeted, “No Gary, YOU don’t know what’s coming – a revolutionary Congress that puts people over profits.”
According to a Newsweek report, Ocasio-Cortez has a large following on Twitter, which means that her tweets go out to as many people as all the other incoming Democratic House members combined. With 1.54 million Twitter followers, people are paying attention to what the freshman from New York is saying leading up to her first days on the job next month.