Politics

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Refutes Claim She Fought With Dem Party Leaders Over Climate Change

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Mike Brest Reporter
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Democratic Congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pushed back on a report that she got into a fight with party leadership over her desire to create a panel to focus on climate change.

Rep. Frank Pallone, the incoming chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, disagreed with Ocasio-Cortez’s plan for the creation of a specific climate change panel. He had the support of others on the committee, Politico reported on Thursday.

“My fear is that if you have a select committee, by the time the select committee gets going, gets appointed and hires staff that it might actually delay what we’re doing,” Pallone told reporters. “We’ve got people who are in charge of these committees who are very progressive and I just don’t see the need for the select committee. I think it may actually delay what the progressives are trying to achieve.”

After Politico published their initial story on the dispute, Ocasio-Cortez took to Twitter to say the story was “completely false.”

Whether or not Ocasio-Cortez met with Pallone, she has been very vocal about the need to create a select committee to deal with climate issues.

The disagreement comes on the heels of Ocasio-Cortez joining in a protest in House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s office earlier this week. An environmental group called Sunrise took over Pelosi’s office waiting room on Capitol Hill to call for immediate action on climate change. (RELATED: Ingraham Laughs In DNC Reform Commissioner’s Face Leading To Heated Back-And-Forth Over Ocasio-Cortez, Democratic Party)

The group was looking for Pelosi to authorize and create “the Select Committee for a Green New Deal, would be similar to something Pelosi established as House speaker in 2007, but with more authority,” the Intercept reported.

Editor’s note: A previous version of the story identified Pelosi as “potential House majority leader.” She is running for House speaker, and is currently House minority leader.

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