Ocasio-Cortez slams GOP amid DC flooding: ‘Republicans are tripling down on fossil fuels’

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) called out inaction on climate issues amid heavy rains and flooding in the Washington, D.C., area on Monday.

“Unprecedented flooding is quickly becoming a new normal. Despite that, Republicans are tripling down on fossil fuels w/no plan to transition off them, or make the critical infra[structure] investments we need to prep for the climate crisis,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, linking to local news coverage of the downpour.

Unprecedented flooding is quickly becoming a new normal.

Despite that, Republicans are tripling down on fossil fuels w/no plan to transition off them, or make the critical infra investments we need to prep for the climate crisis.

Each day of inaction puts more of us in danger. https://t.co/J8yqzguN5O

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 8, 2019

In a follow-up tweet, Ocasio-Cortez noted that climate change leads to more extreme weather, including floods and wildfires.

“It’s more than 1 day or 1 storm; it’s all of them. Places are flooding where they haven’t before; there are 90-degree days in Alaska in June. The GOP will mock & sow confusion until it’s their home swept away,” she wrote.

Climate change intensifies flooding, wildfires, & extreme weather.

It’s more than 1 day or 1 storm; it’s all of them. Places are flooding where they haven’t before; there are 90-degree days in Alaska in June. The GOP will mock & sow confusion until it’s their home swept away.

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 8, 2019

Monday brought up to 4 inches of water in the D.C. area, necessitating water rescues of drivers on Constitution Avenue NW and causing minor flooding in the White House basement.

Ocasio-Cortez has made climate change a central issue, including her signature Green New Deal resolution and a meeting in June with Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg.