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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tackles climate change inaction with her most powerful speech yet

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tackles climate change inaction with her most powerful speech yet

By now, we know that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a singular voice of sanity in a world that seems to be going increasingly insane. Now, she's proved it again.

Yesterday, the Senate pushed back on Ocasio-Cortez's New Green Deal, voting it down unanimously, with 57-0 votes against it, with 43 present.

In a scathing attack, Republican colleague in the House trashed the measure as only welcomed by rich liberals in New York and California. Rep Sean Duffy mocked the deal, saying:

The Green New Deal is one that if you are a rich liberal from maybe New York or California it sounds great because you can afford to retrofit your home or build a new home that has zero emissions, that is energy efficient, affordable and safe.

He then went on to cite a study from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which showed it would cost over $172 billion to retrofit existing houses in the US to meet the standards set out in the Green New Deal, reports Fox News.

After the crushing defeat, she delivered a now-viral impassioned speech to the house, in defence of her proposal:

This is not an elitist issue, this is a quality of life issue. 

You want to tell people that their concern and their desire for clean air and clean water is elitist, tell that to the kids in the South Bronx which is suffering from the highest rates of childhood asthma in the country

Tell that to the families in Flint, whose kids have their blood ascending in lead levels

Their brains are damaged for the rest of their lives. Call them elitist.

You’re telling those kids that they are trying to get on a plane to Davos? People are dying!'

Needless to say, the clip quickly went viral and was shared widely online.

Ocasio-Cortez, we salute you. Don't let em get you down!

HT The Guardian

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