Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Monday fired back at Fox News over its criticism that her planned staff salaries amounted to “socialism and communism on display,” saying that the GOP is “disconnected.”
{mosads}”The GOP is so disconnected from the basic idea that people should be paid enough to live that Fox actually thinks me paying a living wage in my office is ‘communism,'” the highly visible freshman lawmaker from New York tweeted.
“So the next time GOP screams ‘socialist,’ know that’s their go-to attack for any common-sense, humane policy.”
“Fox & Friends” weekend co-host Pete Hegseth on Sunday said that Ocasio-Cortez’s plan to cap higher-level staff incomes in order to pay every member of her staff an annual salary of at least $52,000 was an example of communism and socialism.
Corbin Trent, Ocasio-Cortez’s communications director, told Roll Call last week that the top salaries at their office would max out at $80,000 due to the policy. The median wage for top congressional staffers last year was $154,634, according to a Legistorm analysis reported by USA Today of congressional chiefs of staffs.
Trent added that Ocasio-Cortez’s staff would likely include 18 members, the congressional limit.
Ocasio-Cortez said in December that she would pay her interns at least $15 an hour.
Hegseth criticized the decision while noting that “every Capitol Hill office has a limited amount of money to pay their staff.”
“So you have to decide how to allocate it. She said everyone in my office will pay a living wage,” Hegseth said, adding that her policy would make her chief of staff earn a salary below the “actual market rate.”
Hegseth closed the segment by wondering if Ocasio-Cortez would share some of her own salary with her staff.
“Will you share some of that money, Miss Congresswoman, with the rest of your staff who is not making as much as you?” he asked.
This is not the first time Fox News and Ocasio-Cortez have clashed publicly.
The network has covered the New York lawmaker more than any of the Democrats running for president or expected to do so on issues like boosting taxes on the wealthy and her “Green New Deal” to combat climate change.