AOC and squad members lobby for Biden to accept Green New Deal outside DNC

‘We are all here today because of the movement’

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other progressive members of “the squad” have rallied outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters demanding president-elect Joe Biden embrace the Green New Deal.

During the rally on Thursday outside the Washington headquarters, Rep Ocasio-Cortez, a Democratic New York congresswoman, urged Mr Biden to take bold action on climate change and racial justice.

“We are all here today because of the movement ... because at the end of the day, dollars don’t vote, people do,” Rep Ocasio-Cortez said.

The rally was broadcast online with the hashtag #BidenBeBrave by the Sunrise Movement, an American youth-led political movement.

“@JoeBiden must act on his mandate & deliver for those who delivered for him. #BidenBeBrave,” the movement said on Twitter.

AOC is part of a group of progressive first-term Democratic congresswomen, known as the “squad,” alongside Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib.

This year, the progressive Democrats expanded their ranks with the election of three more candidates who replaced longtime Democratic incumbents: Mondaire Jones, Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush.

At the rally, Minnesota representative Ilhan Omar said: “This is a movement built out of the urgency people feel to protect our planet”

“Some of the leaders of the Democratic Party, or even some of our colleagues who are freshmen, talk about us getting back to basics,” she said, Bloomberg reported.

“I was confused because what is more basic than fighting for clean water? What is more basic than fighting for a breathable planet?”

Rep Bush, the first Black woman elected to Congress from Missouri, urged the US to confront how climate change disproportionately affects minority communities.

“When we don’t act, people that look like me die,” Rep Bush said.

The Green New Deal is an ambitious environmental plan to combat climate change that AOC originally co-sponsored in 2019 and seeks to fight the climate crisis and tackle inequality simultaneously.

Mr Biden has previously said he “will work with Congress to implement a bold agenda that addresses the climate emergency, achieves environmental justice and creates good-paying jobs.″