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Rubio and Ocasio-Cortez spar on Twitter: ‘Work more, tweet less’

by Cameron Jenkins - 12/04/20 12:45 PM ET

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) went back and forth with each other on Twitter Thursday after the senator suggested that Ocasio-Cortez should “work more” and “tweet less.”

Rubio was responding to a tweet in which Ocasio-Cortez criticized “Republicanism” while saying Black-owned businesses were denied access to Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans during the coronavirus pandemic.

“Black-owned small businesses were widely shut out from accessing PPP loans, yet right-wing disinfo org PV [Project Veritas] took half a million in public money while decrying direct federal assistance as ‘radical socialism.’ Republicanism in a nutshell. (Also they’re based in Mamaroneck?!),” she tweeted.

Rubio came to the defense of the GOP, writing that “Working together R’s & D’s helped save the jobs of 55 million Americans through PPP.”

Working together R’s & D’s helped save the jobs of 55 million Americans through PPP

Work more, tweet less & one day you too can make a difference https://t.co/WprW5OR9LP

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) December 3, 2020

Ocasio-Cortez hit back, sharing her recent efforts to boost remote learning and probe the Treasury Department’s handling of COVID-19 relief funds.

Yesterday I recruited 5,000 volunteers to train and tutor kids in my community who are struggling with remote learning, and that was after investigating the Treasury Secretary’s rationale for stopping CARES Act funding and voting on House legislation.

What did you do? https://t.co/Ytkq6qZKiI

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 3, 2020

The thing that these conservative Senators don’t seem to understand is that I’ve actually had a physically difficult working-class job without good healthcare most of my adult life.

I bring that work ethic to Congress & to my community. They sit around on leather chairs all day.

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 3, 2020

Ocasio-Cortez had also defended her tweets on Tuesday after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) criticized her tenure in the House.

“I find it amusing when politicians try to diminish the seriousness of our policy work, movement organizing & grassroots fundraising to ‘she just tweets,’ as though ‘serious’ politics is only done by begging corporate CEOs for money through wax-sealed envelopes delivered by raven,” she wrote.