As was to be expected, the massive $3.5 trillion bipartisan reconciliation bill that is over in the Senate will most likely be slashed down to a more palatable cost to taxpayers, has infuriated Progressives like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) who questioned the racial make-up of the Senate for appearing to cut money out of the bill that she says will affect “people of color.”
During a Thursday press gaggle outside of the House Chamber, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez was asked if she thought the bill negotiation “was racist” because there were “only white senators involved in the negotiations.”
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez called the Senate “a fundamentally un-Democratic institution” that “already makes it much more difficult for people of color to be even elected to that body.”
“Here is the deal. First of all, The Senate, in and of itself—let’s keep it real— is a fundamentally un-Democratic institution which already makes it much more difficult for people of color to be even elected to that body,” said Ocasio-Cortez. “But what I will say is that it is not an accident that you come here and you see an extremely influential, decision-making body brought together, and there’s not a single senators (sic) of color included.
Ocasio-Cortez believes that these “white senators” do not understand what people in “The Bronx” or in any other densely-populated, minority-heavy regions of the country.
But what about AOC’s claim that it is hard for minorities to get elected to the U.S. Senate?
Currently, there are (5) Hispanic U.S. Senators and (3) Black-American Senators, not to mention Vice President Kamala Harris who was elected to the body before joined then-presidential candidate Joe Biden’s campaign.
The current Hispanic Senators are:
Alex Padilla (D-CA)
Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM)
Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV)
Ted Cruz (R-TX)
Marco Rubio (R-FL)
Robert Menendez (D-NJ)
The current Black-American Senators are:
Cory Booker (D-NJ)
Raphael Warnack (D-GA)
Tim Scott (R-Scott)
