Marjorie Taylor Greene calls AOC a ‘scared little girl’ as she badgers her to debate Green New Deal
Controversial Republican says New York progressive ‘doesn’t know anything about the economy or economics’
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Louise Thomas
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Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene resorted to name-calling on Thursday as she continued to challenge Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to a debate on the Green New Deal.
“If she chickens out, then she shows exactly who she really is, a scared little girl that is pretty stupid and doesn’t know anything about the economy or economics,” Ms Greene said in a video she posted to social media. The Georgia congresswoman has been badgering the New York progressive for days to join her in a debate of her proposed climate legislation, of which Ms Greene has been harshly critical.
“AOC’s Green New Deal will destroy the US’s oil and gas industry just after we became energy independent from President Trump’s #AmericaFirst policies,” she tweeted on Wednesday.
Later that day, she tweeted a photo of herself approaching a somewhat puzzled-looking Rep Ocasio-Cortez.
“I’m glad I ran into you today @AOC to plan our debate about the Green New Deal,” Ms Greene wrote in the caption. “After I finish reading all 14 pages, like we agreed, I’ll schedule time for our debate.”
Ms Ocasio-Cortez has not publicly agreed to or refused the debate, and has made no response to Ms Greene’s tweets.
She and Senator Ed Markey introduced the Green New Deal in Congress in 2019, as a way to combat climate change and make the US economy more sustainable.
On Thursday – Earth Day – Ms Greene continued her assault on the plan.
“We’re going to debate. She asked me if I had read her 14-page Green New Deal,” she said in her video. “I said I’ve read some of it. And she said, ‘Well, when you’ve read all of it, then you can challenge me to a debate.’”
“Well, the good news is I’ve read all 14 little pages, and I’m very ready to debate her on the House floor,” she added.
Then the name-calling began.
Observers on Twitter noted that Ms Greene appeared to be mocking the shortness of the document, while simultaneously admitting she hadn’t read it.
“Wait. Let me get this right…” one user tweeted. “You constantly attack the bill and everything it stands for... but you have never actually read it?”
“So you’ve been attacking it all this time without reading it – all 14 pages? Qrazy,” another user wrote.
Ms Greene has expressed support on social media for a number of conspiracy theories, including QAnon. In February, the House of Representatives voted to strip her of her committee positions as punishment for those posts, many of which were antisemitic or Islamophobic.
Ms Ocasio-Cortez has not yet responded toThe Independent’s request for comment.
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