Joe Biden brands himself as a centrist Democrat, but Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a socialist, thinks that the left flank of the Democratic Party can push him in a more progressive direction.
“Overall, we can likely push Vice President Biden in a more progressive direction across policy issues,” Ocasio-Cortez told a reporter. “I think foreign policy is an enormous area where we can improve. Immigration is another one. Criminal justice is another area where we can pursue a lot of progressive direction, you know? There are some areas where we just fundamentally disagree, but that’s OK.”
The freshman representative endorsed socialist Bernie Sanders during the Democratic presidential primary and is an ardent supporter of policies such as “Medicare for all” and the “Green New Deal.” However, she has vowed to cast her ballot for the former Delaware senator in November.
In May, Biden appointed Ocasio-Cortez to his campaign climate change task force. In a statement, Ocasio-Cortez said that she would be “fully accountable” to the climate justice community.
“I’m working with Bernie and with his people. And so — and we’ve made some changes. We’ve listened to Bernie supporters, and you know, for example, we have Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez. She is on one of the panels,” Biden said at the time of the announcement.
Biden’s climate change plan calls the “Green New Deal” a “crucial framework” for energy policy. Analysts from the conservative Heritage Foundation, though, said that the policy would lead to 5.3 million jobs lost in 2023 and that a family of four would lose an average of $8,000 per year through 2040.
“You cannot let people who are sick, no matter where they come from, no matter what their status, go uncovered,” Biden said in a June 2019 debate, explaining why his healthcare plan, like Sanders’s, would cover illegal immigrants.
Ocasio-Cortez also expressed concern that Biden was not a “progressive enough” candidate.
“We’re different people. And clearly, I, in the primary, one of the reasons why I was supportive of Sen. Sanders was because of how progressive his stances are. But you know, the primary’s over, and right now, what is most important is to make sure that we ensure a Democratic victory in November and that we continue to push Vice President Biden on issues from marijuana to climate change to foreign policy.”
“One perfect example is that I believe in the legalization of marijuana, not just decriminalization, but full legalization, regulation, etc. But you know, we will hash those out,” she said in the interview. “Our main priority is to make sure that the vice president is successful and victorious in November so that we can have those kinds of conversations in the first place from a more effective stance with him in the White House.”
Biden has vowed to expand the Affordable Care Act if he is elected, and provide a “public option” alternative to private health insurance.
Ocasio-Cortez called Biden “pretty stubborn” when it comes to healthcare policy, adding that convincing the Democratic nominee to embrace single-payer healthcare wouldn’t be easy and would take a “mass movement.”
