AOC Attacks ‘Moderate Lady’ Susan Collins for Blasting Democrats for Blocking Economic Relief

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) on Monday attacked Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) after the Maine lawmaker criticized Democrats for blocking a bipartisan economic relief package.

The New York Democrat said Collins is not a “moderate lady” and cited her support for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and GOP tax cuts as proof of her assertion.

“.@SenatorCollins can keep her crocodile tears,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “She voted & fought HARD to strip pandemic prep funding. She helped drive the lack of preparation that we had leading up to this.”

“What’s actually disgraceful is her ‘I’m a Moderate Lady’ dance to cover up brutal policies and vote,” she added, listing examples in an attempt to back her point:

Collins voted for the GOP tax scam.
She voted to appoint Kavanaugh.
She’s defending an utterly corrupt bill to shower public money on friends and donors.

Susan Collins is not a moderate. She just plays one on TV.

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 23, 2020

Ocasio-Cortez’s attack followed Collins’ impassioned speech on the Senate floor.

“Never, never have I seen Republicans and Democrats fail to come together when confronted with a crisis,” Collins said, citing 9/11 and the financial meltdown in 2008.

“Here we are facing an enemy that is invisible but equally devastating to the health of our people and to the health of our economy. And yet, unbelievably, the Democratic leader objected to my even being able to speak this morning,” she continued.

“Is the what we’ve come to?” the senator asked.

She said both sides had been “making very good progress” and putting together a comprehensive package to “address and prevent the economic devastation that is being caused by this virus.”

“We don’t have another day. We don’t have another hour. We don’t have another minute to delay acting,” she said, detailing the small businesses in her own state impacted by the pandemic.

Together, lawmakers came up with a “very good plan” and “worked in a bipartisan way … that would help these small businesses and keep their employees paid,” Collins said.

Keep their employees getting paychecks,” she added.

“How can that possibly be controversial?” she asked. “How can any of us want to see millions of Americans lose their paychecks, their health insurance, their contributions to their retirement plans?”

“Mr. President, I cannot believe the objections to proceeding to this package,” she said, calling it “disgraceful.”

“This is disgraceful. We do not have time,” she said. “Time is not on our side. Let’s get the job done for the American people.”