In an April 27 virtual town-hall with homeless advocacy group Housing Justice for All, New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (shown) laid into state Democrats for their unwillingness to cancel rent and mortgage payments during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The self-described “Democratic Socialist,” who has come to prominence as one of the far-left’s most vocal members of Congress, said it was “unacceptable” that state Democrats have failed to cancel rent and mortgage payments during the coronavirus emergency.
“I think it’s just really important to communicate that these things don’t happen magically, they happen when we organize, and they happen right for them. And that doesn’t just, and that doesn’t even fight along partisan lines, we have to — as we know here in New York — we have to fight with Democrats in order to make sure that these things get accomplished,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
“Here in the state of New York, we have a Democratic governor, we have a Democratic state legislature, we have a Democratic city council, and we are still struggling to cancel rent! It’s unacceptable.”
Ocasio-Cortez linked the failure to provide rent and mortgage relief to money in politics. “We need to make sure that we are putting the heat on, because money in politics is not unique to the Republican Party, money in politics also has a corrosive and corrupting influence in the Democratic Party politics as well.”
Not wanting to let the COVID-19 crisis go to waste, AOC has been busy during the pandemic calling for socialist reforms, particularly in housing. “People can’t pay. You cannot coerce someone into doing something they cannot do. There is no money in the bank,” AOC said recently. “People need to feed their kids. We cannot be evicting. We need to be making sure that we are passing policy that allows people to stay in their homes.”
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has already suspended all residential and commercial evictions for a period of 90 days as part of the New York State on Pause executive order. The state has also suspended mortgage payments for people who are out of work for 90 days. In New York City, Mayor Bill De Blasio is considering extending the moratorium on evictions and has called for landlords to use security deposits for rent payments.
None of that is good enough for AOC. “Money doesn’t trickle down, but despair does. Because over and over again the richest and the wealthiest people are shielded when a huge crisis hits our country, and then it’s the people below them that feel it more and the people below them that feel it more as well. And there’s no other place where we can see that the most right here in housing.”
If the rest of the country feels left out that AOC is concentrating on her own state, never fear. She and fellow “squad” members are taking their cancel rent ideas national as well. Ocasio-Cortez is joining Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Pramilla Jayapal (D-Wash.), Marc Pocan (D-Wis.), Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), Jesus Garcia (D-Ill.) and Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) in sponsoring a bill proposed by Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), which would cancel all rent and mortgage payments for the duration of the pandemic.
The proposed legislation, titled Emergency Rent and Mortgage Cancellation, would also include forgiveness of any missed payments and not allow any missed payments to affect the credit records of renters or homeowners.
“Congress has a responsibility to step in and stablize both local communities and the housing market during this time of uncertainty and crisis,” Omar said in a press release. “In 2008 we bailed out Wall Street. This time, it’s time to bail out the American people who are suffering.”
Congress shouldn’t be “bailing out” anybody. That’s not their job.
While we are being distracted with coronavirus news and various other tidbits and scandals, this is the type of economy-ravaging leglislation being pushed by Democrats. Instead of simply doing the right thing — removing all government restrictions on movement and completely reopening the country — Democrats in Congress are looking to remake the country in their own socialist image.
Now, more than ever, Americans need to be vigilant about what Congress is trying to slip past us.
Photo of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: flickr/Dimitri Rodriguez
James Murphy is a freelance journalist who writes on a variety of subjects, with a primary focus on the ongoing anthropogenic climate-change hoax and cultural issues. He can be reached at [email protected].
