It’s a vote to let our democracy live another day,” said Ocasio-Cortez, who supported Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary. “We need to act in solidarity and protection for the most vulnerable people in our society who have already experienced the violent repercussions of this administration.”. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, has won re-election to a second term. The Democrat, who represents parts of the Bronx and Queens, defeated Republican John Cummings, a.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortex (D-NY), who is one of the most far-left members of Congress, was overwhelmingly rejected during a secret ballot vote on Friday in her bid to be seated on a powerful congressional committee.

Democrats overwhelmingly voted to give the seat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee to Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-NY) instead of Ocasio-Cortez in what ended up being a 46-13 vote.

“Rice and Ocasio-Cortez have been battling behind the scenes for weeks to secure one of the few open seats on the exclusive committee, which oversees everything from health care policy to climate issues,” Politico reported. “Tensions spilled into the open Thursday in a private meeting of the Steering and Policy Committee, where Democrats were forced to choose between the two members in a tense — and awkward — secret ballot vote.”

Politico noted that Ocasio-Cortez was rejected because many in the party view her “far-left policies” as a “threat” in addition to her backing far-left candidates in primary races against incumbent Democrats, and “her refusal to pay party campaign dues.”

One member of Congress told Axios that the vote would have “been very different if it wasn’t secret,” which suggests that Democrats might be afraid of AOC.

The Committee, which was established in 1795, has the broadest jurisdiction of any authorizing committee in Congress as it legislates on a variety of issues, including health care, including mental health and substance abuse; health insurance, including Medicare and Medicaid; biomedical research and development; food, drug, device and cosmetic safety; environmental protection; clean air and climate change; safe drinking water; toxic chemicals and hazardous waste; national energy policy; renewable energy and conservation; nuclear facilities; electronic communications and the internet; broadcast and cable television; privacy, cybersecurity and data security; consumer protection and product safety; motor vehicle safety; travel, tourism and sports; and interstate and foreign commerce.

The Committee also oversees multiple federal departments and agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Indian Health Service, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Federal Communications Commission, Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Department of Commerce, Department of Transportation, and the Department of Homeland Security.

The blowout vote against Ocasio-Cortez comes after she complained during an interview this week about the leadership in the Democrat Party.

“Well, you know, I do think that we need new leadership in the Democratic Party,” she said in an interview with The Intercept. “I think one of the things that I have struggled with — I think that a lot of people struggle with — is the internal dynamics of the House has made it such that there’s very little option for succession, if you will, you know? And I think it’s easy for someone to say, ‘Oh, well, you know, why don’t you run?’ But the House is extraordinarily complex. And I’m not ready. It can’t be me! I know that I couldn’t do that job.”

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Ocasio Cortez Vote Count

• A handful of outspoken left-wing activists are pressuring progressive lawmakers to refuse to vote for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unless she holds the first floor vote on single-payer healthcare.
• Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is publicly rejecting those calls, arguing that Democrats don't have the votes to pass Medicare for All in the House and there are other options the party has that would effect real change.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi can only afford to lose the support of a handful of her House Democratic colleagues in order to be elected on January 3, to her fourth term as leader of the House.

A handful of outspoken left-wing activists are pressuring Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other progressive House lawmakers to take advantage of this vulnerability to force a vote on one of their leading issues: Medicare for All. Commentator Jimmy Dore and Briahna Joy Gray, Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign spokesperson, led calls for Democrats to refuse to vote for Pelosi unless she holds the first House floor vote on single-payer healthcare.

They argue progressives would be foolish to waste what they see as a golden opportunity to promote Rep. Pramila Jayapal's Medicare for All legislation amid a raging pandemic and with millions of newly uninsured Americans.

'Force the Congress to show which side they're really on,' Dore said during his YouTube show this week. He accused Ocasio-Cortez, a prominent advocate for Medicare for All, of 'pretending to be part of a movement,' but in reality 'running cover for Nancy Pelosi.'

—Jimmy Dore (@jimmy_dore) December 15, 2020

Gray joined Dore's call in a Tuesday piece for the progressive publication Current Affairs in which she argued that threatening to remove Pelosi from the speakership would help draw media and public attention to the healthcare debate.

Alexandria Ocasio Cortez Polls

'A floor vote on Jayapal's bill could capitalize on the public's overwhelming approval for Medicare for All, and expose the chasm between the policies Democratic voters want and the positions their elected representatives are willing to take,' Gray wrote.

Gray and Dore pointed out that Ocasio-Cortez has previously suggested she supports holding a House vote on Medicare for All.

Video: Mnuchin to join by phone as top U.S. congressional leaders meet on COVID-19; McConnell vows agreement (Reuters)

'We can't even get a floor vote on Medicare for All,' the congresswoman said in January. 'Not even a floor vote that gets voted down. We can't even get a vote on it.'

On Friday, Ocasio-Cortez responded to the criticism in a series of tweets replying to professional football player Justin Jackson, who backed Dore's call to force the vote.

Jackson tweeted, 'If @AOC and the squad don't do what @jimmy_dore has suggested and withhold their vote for Pelosi for speakership until Med 4 All gets brought to the floor for a vote… they will be revealing themselves. Power concedes nothing without a demand.'

Ocasio-Cortez argued that Democrats don't have the votes to pass Medicare for All in the House and lawmakers have already made clear whether or not they support the legislation.

Alexandria Ocasio Cortez

'So you issue threats, hold your vote, and lose. Then what?' the congresswoman wrote.

The Bronx native argued that House progressives should instead focus their energies on pushing policies that can pass, including a $15 minimum wage and 'elevating longtime progressive champions to important positions of leadership.' She added that 'movement pressure' and successful progressive primary candidates are helping push more Democrats to sign on to the single-payer proposal.

Ocasio-cortez Vote Count

Other influential progressives, including Intercept journalist Ryan Grim and former Sanders aide David Sirota, sided with Ocasio-Cortez and argued it would be wrongheaded to burn up political capital on a doomed vote.

'Only asking for that performative vote - rather than also asking for things that might change the structural power dynamic - would be a waste, and yet another instance of progressives reverting to a feckless tradition of prioritizing spectacles rather than the wielding of actual power,' Sirota wrote on Monday in the socialist outlet Jacobin.

Ocasio Cortez Vote Totals

He suggested Democrats push a series of other more achievable measures, including passing legislation to allow states to create single-payer healthcare systems, that would help pave the way for a future transformation of the healthcare sector.

Ocasio-Cortez seconded Sirota's proposals and added a few more of her own.

'[People] may think it's just personalities that block floor votes. But it's not just that. There are structural blocks (yes, placed by conservative Dems) we must unravel,' she wrote.