Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y) on Sunday fired back at Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) after the centrist senator referred to her as “young lady” while responding to criticism from the congresswoman.
“In Washington, I usually know my questions of power are getting somewhere when the powerful stop referring to me as ‘Congresswoman’ and start referring to me as ‘young lady’ instead,” she tweeted.
“Imagine if every time someone referred to someone as ‘young lady’ they were ask responded to by being addressed with their age and gender?” she continued. “They’d be pretty upset if one responded with ‘the old man,’ right? Why this kind of weird, patronizing behavior is so accepted is beyond me!”
Ocasio-Cortez’s comments come after Manchin made remarks about the congresswoman during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” when he discussed recent accusations from the House lawmaker that the senator huddles “weekly” with personnel from Exxon Mobil.
Manchin denied those allegations during the CNN appearance, saying they are “totally false” and that such comments “continue to divide, divide, divide.”
“I don’t know that young lady that well. I really don’t. I have met her one time, I think, between sets here. But that’s it. So we have not had any conversations. She’s just speculating and saying things because she wants to,” Manchin added.
The tense exchange marks the latest back-and-forth in recent weeks between the two, who represent opposite flanks of the Democratic Party, as Manchin has repeatedly bucked others in his party over the proposed $3.5 trillion price tag associated with Democrats’ forthcoming social spending bill.
Democrats are working to pass the package, which would advance key parts of President Biden’s economic agenda, using a process called reconciliation, which would allow them to approve the measure in the Senate without buy-in from Republicans.
However, the party has had trouble uniting on a path forward as the tensions run high between different factions amid spending negotiations. Some moderates say the package should be smaller, while a number of progressives have said the opposite.
Manchin has emerged as a target for progressives over his opposition to the floated $3.5 trillion price tag, as well as his comments calling on Democrats to hit “pause” on the reconciliation efforts as leadership works quickly to craft and advance the package.
During his interview on Sunday, Manchin pushed back against criticism from his colleagues that he “bought and paid for by corporate donors,” saying, “I’m opposed to it because it makes no sense at all.”
“You’re entitled to your own facts — I mean, your own opinions. You’re just not entitled to create your own facts to support it. And that’s exactly what they’re doing,” the senator said.