Former CNBC anchor and current congressional candidate Michelle Caruso-Cabrera ripped Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) for voting against a recent $484 billion coronavirus economic stimulus package, accusing her of being “out of touch” with her New York constituents.
“If she really cared, she would’ve come home after that last vote,” Caruso-Cabrera, who is challenging Ocasio-Cortez in the upcoming Democratic primary in New York’s 14th Congressional District, told Yahoo News.
“If she really cared, she wouldn’t drive away 25,000 jobs like she did,” she added, in reference to Amazon’s decision not to build a New York City headquarters after Ocasio-Cortez opposed the move.
“If she really cared, she wouldn’t be telling the poorest people in her district not to go back to work like she did earlier this week. She’s out of touch to tell people who are desperate for food that they shouldn’t go back to work. How out of touch can you be?” Caruso-Cabrera added.
Ocasio-Cortez was the only Democratic House member to vote against the stimulus package.
“It is a joke when Republicans say that they have urgency around this bill … you are not trying fix this bill for mom & pops. We have to fight to fund hospitals. Fighting to fund testing. … It is unconscionable,” Ocasio-Cortez argued on the House floor last week.
The stimulus bill included $75 billion for hospitals and $25 billion for coronavirus testing.
The New York Daily News’s editorial page also criticized Ocasio-Cortez for being the only Democratic lawmaker to vote against the bill.
“Enemy of the good: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez makes the wrong choice,” declared its Monday headline.
“Not the kind of distinction a rising star legislator should be proud of,” the paper argued.
Caruso-Cabrera announced in February that she would challenge the progressive first-term lawmaker for her seat in Congress.
“I am the daughter and granddaughter of working class Italian and Cuban immigrants,” Caruso-Cabrera said in a statement on Feb. 11. “I am so lucky to have had such a wonderful career and I want everybody to have the opportunity that I’ve had. That’s why I’m running.”
Caruso-Cabrera had been with CNBC for more than two decades.
The Hill has requested comment from Ocasio-Cortez on Caruso-Cabrera’s comments.