During a town hall on CNN on Wednesday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) stated that a one-year extension of healthcare subsidies to end the government shutdown is “laughable, because it’s cynical.” And “as a member of the party, we put negotiations in the hands of our party’s leadership, with Hakeem Jeffries. He says it’s no, it’s no.”
Host Kaitlan Collins asked, “Over in the House, there are 14 House Republicans who have said that they will sign on and they will vote for a one-year extension of the subsidies. House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) has said he thought that proposal was laughable. Do you think that’s laughable, or is that something you could get behind?”
Ocasio-Cortez answered, “[L]et me tell you why it’s laughable, because it’s cynical. Republicans want to sign on to just a one little extra year of these ACA subsidies. You want to know why? What’s happening next year? The midterm elections. They want to extend these subsidies just a year extra so that people don’t realize the dupe that they are pulling on everyone, so that they can all re-elect themselves and allow those things to expire the moment that they win re-election. And it is time to get politics out of what should be a guaranteed, universal right in the United States of America, and that is health care. And so I will not accept a measly one-year extension of the ACA. We need to make sure — and, as a member of the party, we put negotiations in the hands of our party’s leadership, with Hakeem Jeffries. He says it’s no, it’s no. And we have to make sure that we are expanding and continuing the fight and not allowing — not falling for the fine print, not falling for the tricks, and not falling for the politics around this.”
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