Biden responds to Ocasio-Cortez criticism: ‘Tell her to check’ my record

Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) on Tuesday pushed back against criticism of his forthcoming climate plan by progressives who have characterized it as a “middle ground” approach to addressing global warming.

“You never heard me say middle of the road. I’ve never been middle of the road on the environment,” Biden told reporters in New Hampshire. “Tell her to check the statement that I made and look at my record.”

{mosads}”I don’t think she was talking about me,” Biden added.

His office did not immediately respond to an inquiry about which statement of his he was referencing.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) criticized Biden’s forthcoming climate plan last week and again at a Monday night rally in support of the Green New Deal.

“This is a dealbreaker. There is no ‘middle ground’ w/ climate denial & delay,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted last week.

“There is no ‘middle ground’ when it comes to climate policy,” Sanders tweeted. “If we don’t commit to fully transforming our energy system away from fossil fuels, we will doom future generations. Fighting climate change must be our priority, whether fossil fuel billionaires like it or not.”

At Monday’s rally, Ocasio-Cortez took again took aim at a “middle of the road” approach but did not mention Biden by name.

“What’s too much for me,” she said, “is that Congress was first notified by NASA that climate change was going to threaten my life and everyone here’s life to come, and they did nothing.”

“If the same politicians who refused to act then are going to try to come back today and say we need to have a ‘middle of the road approach’ to save our lives, that is too much for me,” she added.

Biden told reporters Tuesday that no one has been more serious about a green revolution than he has.

When asked if Ocasio-Cortez wanted to comment on Biden’s remarks, a spokesperson for her congressional office said, “Nah.”

Reuters first reported on Friday that Biden’s campaign was drafting a climate policy plan that would include recommitting to the Paris climate agreement, which President Trump has said he intends to pull the U.S. out of in 2020, and investing in carbon capture technology for fossil fuel emissions.

Biden’s approach, according to two sources cited by Reuters, is meant to appeal to working-class voters who may be reluctant to back initiatives like like the Green New Deal, which aims to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions to net zero over a 10-year period.

Updated at 2:27 p.m.