Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) are using the coronavirus pandemic to push for nationalizing the healthcare system in the United States in videos posted on social media on Thursday.
“The videos were posted on Twitter by The Hill but it was unclear exactly when they were recorded,” Fox News reported, as well as posted a second and different video from Ocasio-Cortez with the Democracy Now website on the screen.
“Our public health system should be free at point of service for every single person in this country,” Ocasio-Cortez said in the second video.
In the video posted on the Hill’s Twitter account, she makes clear her agenda as Congress works to craft more legislation to help the millions of Americans who have lost their jobs and the small businesses that are on the brink of implosion in the wake of the pandemic.
Rep. @AOC: "We have to start demanding… that we strip profit motive out of our decisions and reprioritize the public good and the health of everyday people." pic.twitter.com/tm0HlBTtGM
— The Hill (@thehill) April 9, 2020
Ocasio-Cortez said in the Hill video:
We have to start organizing and demanding from the bottom up, from grassroots movements, from nurses, to warehouse workers, to grocery store employees, to the halls of Congress demanding that we strip profit motive out of our decisions and reprioritize the public good and the health of everyday people.
Meanwhile, Omar shared that exact same talking point as her colleague in another video posted by the Hill.
Rep. Ilhan Omar: "It is important for us to nationalize the supply chain. It's important for us to take action in nationalizing our healthcare system." pic.twitter.com/MlnSQs3AxU
— The Hill (@thehill) April 10, 2020
Omar said:
Big corporations may not want to produce necessary items because it’s not profitable for them. That’s already, I think, understood right now by many of the public, and we’re hearing so many people raise their voices every single day, and we’re actually addressing the systematic problem that we have where we create a hierarchy and profits are always placed above people.
“It is important for us to nationalize the supply chain,” Omar said. “It’s important for us to take action in nationalizing our healthcare system.”
“Their remarks came as President Trump’s job-approval rating reached a record high in a Fox News Poll released Thursday,” Fox News reported. “The same poll showed a majority (51 percent) specifically approved of Trump’s handling of the federal coronavirus response effort.”
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