How much is enough? President Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure is apparently “not enough” for the progressive Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) as she believes “we can do $10 trillion.”
During an appearance on MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show Ocasio-Cortez said that while she is positively surprised by Joe Biden’s “American Jobs Plan” plan, she believes even more money is needed in order to achieve the administration's progressive vision.
“I think that the vision that President Biden and the administration has laid out, you’re right, has surprised a lot of us in a positive way, and in the detail and the thought that’s here, the scope of it is really encouraging except I think the how that $2.2 trillion,” said Ocasio-Cortez. “$2.25 trillion over eight years, I have serious concerns that it’s not enough to realize the very inspiring vision that Biden has advanced. So I believe that those of us here, especially as progressives within the Democratic Party — we know that there is so much more opportunity here. In order for us to realize this inspiring vision, we need to go way higher. That’s what’s going to help us actually deliver on this really promising and inspiring vision the president laid out today.”
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The eight-year spending timeline Ocasio-Cortez refers to, is in contradiction to her earlier tweet stating “that it’s $2.25T spread out over 10 years.”
This is not nearly enough. The important context here is that it’s $2.25T spread out over 10 years.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 30, 2021
For context, the COVID package was $1.9T for this year *alone,* with some provisions lasting 2 years.
Needs to be way bigger. https://t.co/eTQ7cxuTzF
Host Rachel Maddow then asked Ocasio-Cortez whether she just wants more spending on the existing policies in the bill or if there are new categories of policy she would like to see.
Ocasio-Cortez responded, “I think that we need to really have some shorter timelines. Some urgency, greater urgency in this package, and I think some of the investments need to be greater.”
The congresswoman was then asked whether $2.25 trillion could just be a starting point for progressives in the house.
“Absolutely. If we could wave a magic wand and progressives in the house were able to name any number and get it through,” Ocasio-Cortez responded with a smile on her face. “We’re looking at ideals and what we think is the actual investment that can create tens of millions of good union jobs in this country that can shore up our health care, our infrastructure, our housing, and doing it in a way that draws down our carbon figures to help us get in line with IPCC standards we’re talking about realistically $10 trillion over ten years. And I know that may be an eye-popping figure for some people, but we need to understand that we are in a devastating economic moment. Millions of people in the United States are unemployed. We have a truly crippled health-care system and a planetary crisis on our hands. We’re the wealthiest nation in the history of the world. So we can do $10 trillion.”