Society around a new vision of a carbonfree economy that works for everyone. Is it a fantasy or the beginnings of a New Historical pivot point . The answer is unfolding right now before our eyes. This is all in america the Green New Deal with alexandria ocasiocortez. Good evening from the bronx, new york. Were here at the Albert Einstein school of medicine. Part of the montefore headley system. I was born in this very hospital and the year i was born, 1979 there were 338 parts per million of Carbon Dioxide in the world. In 1989 thats ten years later its also the birth year of the congresswoman who represents this district. It was up to 355 parts per million and 2017, 405 parts per million. What do those numbers mean . Thats the highest in recorded history in ice core records dating all the way back 800,000 years. And heres the other thing. Half of all the Carbon Emissions we have put in the air as a society have happened in the last 30 years when we basically knew what we were doing. So, in 2018 the u. N. Scientists issued a report and basically said we have to get on this problem. If we had got on it earlier, it would have been easy. If we started in 1979 we could have cut a little every year or 1989 or 199. But we didnt and now were here and what we have to do to avoid the most catastrophic effects of Climate Change is to cut Carbon Emissions in half in 12 years. 12 years. Thats the project weve been tasked with by the earth. That we inhabit. Theres an urgency felt like never before and a rising generation of americans across the world that realize the clock is ticking and getting close to running out. And into the vacuum has come a bold new policy proposal that might be the most controversial thing in american politics at the moment and youve probably heard about it. Its called the Green New Deal. It envisions a carbzero economy by the middle of the century and a transformation of society. Some people call it a socialist monster. Some call it our only hope for survival in the way of life we hold dear. The congresswoman, the one born in 1989, the one who represents this district, the youngest woman to ever represent a district in the United States congress who is the cosponsor of that resolution has become kind of the mascot for it as well. Tonight were going to talk to her about what her vision means. Please welcome alexandria ocasiocortez. [ crowd chanting ] [ chanting aoc, aoc ] thank you, thank you. Have a seat. Thank you, thank you. A real hostile crowd. This is going to be tough. [ laughter ] really. How are you doing . Im well. Im excited were back in the bs. I am too. It feels good to be home. I want to start with a very broad and basic question. And its something i ask a lot, how did you get your politics . Why do you have the politics you have . You know, for me i think that my politics is just an emergence of my experience and its a reflection of all of our experiences here, not just in the bronx but as working people. I come from, since im puerto rican, first generation, 500th generation. Thats a whole other issue. But to grow up to a first generation new york family on my moms side. On my dads side who was born in the south bronx, two working parents and to live the american dream. You know, my dad started a small business. My mom, she cleaned houses to get me through school. And to also experience the other half of that, which in 2008, where you can do everything right and have it all taken away at the same time. And what happens in that case . And to me when all of that happened, it became very important that in my framework and my belief, that we not just have a wealthy society but that we have a moral society. What happened in 2008 . What was that experience . In the fall of 2008 as we all know the markets crashed and my father passed away from lung cancer. And all of a sudden over night i was the daughter of a single mom with a younger brother and we had to work our way through that situation. We were on the brink of foreclosure. Our home was about to be taken away. I started working in restaurants. And so for me as an economics graduate in the wake of the recession, i started i decided that i needed to go back home to the bronx and that i needed to work in Education Advocacy and organizing. Economically speaking that wasnt enough. So i also worked in restaurants. It was in that experience being shoulder to shoulder with undocumented bus boys and chefs, with children, people my age that were basically in the same exact situation. So many of the people i worked with were College Graduates who had a parent pass away or someone in their family struck with an enormous medical issue and it really became clear from that experience that our issues and our Economic Issues are systemic and they are not an accident. Theyre a result of an Economic System that enriches the few in enormous amounts at the cost of the working class, middle class. You represent this district in the bronx, in queens and a lot of issues. The first issue youre doing is a Green New Deal. Why this issue front and center first thing . What connects you to this . So this issue is not just about our climate. First and foremost we need to save ourselves, period. There will be no future for the bronx, there will be no livable future for generations coming, for any part of this country in a way that is better than the lot that we have today if we dont address this issue urgently and on the scale of the problem. But how i access this issue is i started looking at all of our problems. We have runaway income and equality. We are at one of our most inequal points economically speaking in American History. Were dealing with a crisis of how our economy is made up. Our economy is increasingly financialized which means were making profits off of interest and leasing your phone and doing all these things, but were not producing and were not innovating in the way we need to as an economy. And i was looking at our issues of social justice, social and Racial Justice which we have a nexus here in the bronx. And what i started thinking about is were looking at all of these issues, living wage, tuitionfree public colleges and universities. And theres this false idea that we need to put them in a line and say do this or do that. Do you care about health care or do you care about the economy or jobs . And then i started to realize that these are not different problems. These are all part of the same problem. And this is in the past weve confronted this type of stagnation and this type of systemic threat as a country. First of all, weve been here before. Weve been here before with the great depression. Weve been here before with world war ii, even the cold war. And the answer has been an ambitious and directed mobilization of the American Economy to direct and solve our problem. Our biggest problem. And historically speaking, we have mobilized our entire economy around war. But i thought to myself, it doesnt have to be that way, especially when our greatest existential threat is Climate Change. So to get us out of this situation, to revamp our economy, to create dignified jobs for working americans to guarantee health care and elevate our Educational Opportunities and attainment, we will have to mobilize our entire economy around saving ourselves and taking care of this planet. [ applause ] it comes out of the gate and i think comes out of the gate in some ways as a political vision. The political vision you just enunciated which is, look, we dont have to talk about a carbon tax. Were not going to come out of the gate and say, youre going to pay more for fuel. They tried that in france and they rioted. No, job, industrial policy, like clean water, the whole thing and the right just loses its mind. [ laughter ] and i mean for sure. I dont know if youve noticed. [ laughter ] i just want to give a little taste of its a 24hour on trump tv, in the conservative movement, its 24hour aoc tv. Heres a little taste what have it looks like. Okay. What is this Green New Deal . Answer, radical environmental socialism. A real serious threat to our way of life. An absurd socialist manifesto. Its a green socialist manifesto. Its like your kids spew nonsense and youre like, quiet, quiet learn something before you come back to me. She was a bartender two years ago. Shes adorable in the way a 5yearold child can be adorable. And shes ranting and raving like a lunatic. I support cows. Ive got 100 cows. No more milk, no more cheese. No south dakota milkshakes. Cheeseburgers and milkshakes will become a thing of the past. No more hamburgers. Were going to ban hamburgers. They want to take away your hamburgers. This is what stalin dreamt about but never achieved. Yes, the infamous stalin fiveyear program to get rid of hamburgers. [ laughter ] were you expecting that . Yeah, 100 . That . Well, i mean they took it to 11. It is next level. I didnt expect them to make total fools of themselves. [ applause ] frankly, i expected a little more nuance, and i expected a little more concerned trolling. Youve gotten that too. Yeah. More in my party. On the concerned trolling there are people that you guys issued an faq. There were things that people thought was ridiculous. Like anyone that was unable or unwilling to work would be guaranteed a job. It said it was preliminary, a draft. There was a lot of fight about that. Do you think you guys rolled it out the right way . Did you bring about what i will say is that i definitely had a staffer that had a very bad day at work and we did release a working draft early. So i get that thats what theyre seizing on, but really what we need to do is have a serious conversation and even in those draft versions, what they were talking about and is really about the fact that we need to innovate on our technology. You know, obviously like i had a staffer release a document that talked about cow flatulence. Which is an issue. I just want to say. It sounds ridiculous but it is literally an issue. It is an issue but it doesnt mean you end cows. It means we need to innovate and change our grain our cow grain from which they feed in these troughs. We need to really take a look at regenerative agriculture. Like these are our solutions. [ applause ] these are our solutions. One of the things i want to do is talk about what it is and bring in folks and get into that. But before we do, sort of a personal question, but im going to ask it anyway. Its just you and me here. Like its just youre in the center of every aspect of americas polarized divided politics is right now coming right at alexandria ocasiocortez who was waitressing a year ago and just got Health Insurance for the first time. Yeah. First time in years. Yeah. What does that feel like . You know, for me, its surreal, obviously, and im just really thankful that i still live in the neighborhood that ive always lived in in the bronx in park chester. And i go to my same bodega guy and thats what i always go back to. [ applause ] that to me is not like, oh, look at me im still the same person. It is literally the grounding force for my life because i do find when i go to d. C. , ill be there and the workweek is about fourdays a week in d. C. Then i come back home and do Community Work here. And on that fourth day or fifth day in d. C. , im like get me out of here. It can seriously be the upside down and i have to come back to my life in order to come back to the solutions and to the commitment to these solutions because this is not [ applause ] yeah. And a lot of what the Green New Deal is about shifting our political, economic and social paradigms on every issue. Because we dont have time to wait. We dont have time for five years for a half baked watered down compromised position when people are dying because their insulin is skyrocketing, because when people theyre sending their kids to schools that have lady in the water. This is urgent. This is urgent. And to think that we have time is such a privileged and removed from reality attitude. [ applause ] that we cannot tolerate. Well, i agree about the urgency, and i think thats where a lot of the world is now actually. So i want to talk about what is this thing. What is the Green New Deal aside from the fact youre taking away my hamburgers. Yeah. If you stick around which is not happening. Not happening. Well still have hamburgers. Stick around. Well be right back. Thank you. [ applause ] i think people see it. Theres a combination taco bell pizza hut situation. Its cool theyre together but do they need to be together . They do, absolutely and its not like that situation at all. . Its just lovely. Im here to let all these folks know how easy it is to save money on their Car Insurance with geico oi oi oi set the pick kick it outside shoot the three shoot the three yessssssss are you. Ok . No, no im not. I think i pulled a hammy. Could we get some ice . Just one cube of ice . Geico®. Proud partner of ncaa march madness®. Woman this is your wakeup call. If you have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, month after month, the clock is ticking on irreversible joint damage. Ongoing pain and stiffness are signs of joint erosion. Humira can help stop the clock. 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[ applause ] were back here in the Albert Einstein college of medicine in the bronx, new york, talking about the Green New Deal and the Green New Deal idea is obviously a reference to the new deal, which was one of the largest mobilizations that happened in American History and its easy to lose size of the scope of the thing. Agriculture, financial policy, the works policy administration doing everything from taking slave narratives to dynamiting tunnels to put in roads. It was a kind of comprehensive reshaping of American Economy and society. And joining me to talk about how that metaphor works and the urgency of the crisis i want to bring in krachl cletis from concerned scientists and policy director there. Thank you for having me, chris. And daymon drummond, its kind of a think tank that has been its the birthplace of the Green New Deal in many respects. Youve been working on Climate Policy for awhile, rachel. So when you think about the depression, think about a crisis at the door, people are literally eating dirt, right, in oklahoma. People are starving to death in the streets of america. Thats not what we have right now. We have Something Different but why should people think that the scale is the same crisiswise . The reality is our human caused emissions, the heattrapping emissions due to human activities like burning fossil fuels and cutting down forests have already led to a temperature increase of about a degree celsius, thats nearly two degrees fahrenheit and were already seeing the impacts of Climate Change around us in more extreme weather evebts. The impacts of Climate Change are here and now and the kind of temperature increase weve seen, i see a lot of young people in the audience. Most kids who are graduating high school have not seen a year without a recordbreaking temperature. Weve had 18 of the 19 hottest years since 2001. This is the future to which our young people are growing up. And i think its important to note that this is here. Young people are growing up. This is not something thats coming. On the events of september 11th, 2001, thousands of americans died in the largest terrorist attack on u. S. Soil and our National Response, whether we agree with it or not, our National Response was to go to war in one, then eventually two countries. 3,000 americans died in puerto rico in the aftermath of hurricane maria. Where is our response . [ applause ] so the Green New Deal is a resolution. Resolutions arent legislation, theyre not policies. Its a set of goals. There are five goals. One is net zero emissions, good highwage jobs, infrastructure, industry. A clean and sustainable environment, justice and equity. Whats the theory of the case of why the thicks have to go together . Its a massive investment in our industrial capacity and American Manufacturing to deploy all the resources of our entire society, not just our money but our ingenuity to tackle the crisis and to do so in a way that grows our economy and gives people a share of that new wealth and growth. Theres the combination taco bell pizza hut situation. Its cool theyre together but do they need to be together . They do and its not like that situation at all because heres the deal, heres the deal is that we could solve all the Environmental Issues in the world if those Climate Policies and solutions are drafted on to the existing framework of economic injustice, then we will perpetuate our social problems and so even if you do pass and the yellow vests in france are a perfect example of what happens when you do not address economic and social justice in the same sweep as Climate Policy. Because what happens is that, a, the policy becomes unsustainable. B, society starts to fall apart, which is what happens in income inequality and then, c, we dont actually solve the environmental issue. [ applause ] and they are connected because of the higher asthma rates that people of color, particularly children of color and the toxins is much higher for low income communities. These are all connected and we can solve these problems together. Just to push back on that because for so long i covered it, its like price on carbon. Put a price on carbon. It now costs more for electricity and fuel. How long is that going to last . Thats right. Thats right. The flip side and i want you to respond, demond, does it make more sense with the urgency of this crisis we got to solve to also tack on say universal health care, which is a big, difficult fight in and of itself. Doesnt that make it harder to attack the crisis were talking about . It actually makes it easier to attack the crisis. Why . Because if were talking about making investments to create millions of highpaying jobs, policies Like Universal Health care, universal family care make it easier for people to join in on the mobilization. So this isnt a nice to have. Its absolutely necessary because its about reshaping the entire economy. A fossil fuel economy that is designed to exploit and extract requires disposable people and disposable places. What the Green New Deal says is no more disposable people, no more disposable places. [ applause ] but the people that are listening to this, right, and are saying, i feel you on the climate, agreed. Its getting hot, but like that sounds like socialism. That sounds no, im serious. Like thats a big youre talking, okay, all right. But im saying not everyone aplauds when they hear that. Youre talking about this huge mobilization. Im like i dont trust the government can pull this off. Heres a couple of issues here. One is that if you want to bring up these labels and this, that and the other and have that whole conversation, thats a whole other thing, but the one thing we cant rebuke and the one thing we cannot deny is that Climate Change is a problem of market failure and extranalities in our economics and, moreover, moreover, exxonmobil knew that Climate Change was real and manmade starting as far back as 1970. The entire United States government knew that Climate Change was real and human caused in 1989 the year i was born. So the initial response was let the market handle it. They will do it. 40 years and Free Market Solutions have not changed our position. So, this does not mean this does not mean that we change our entire structure of government. But what it means is that we need to do something, something, and that is what this solution is about. [ applause ] so much of this conversation, so much of this conversation is politics. So i just want to play a thought experiment and put the politics aside and talk about like can it be done . I want to do that next and thank demond and rachel for joining us. Well be back after this. And they wave this wand and they say its going to cost a bezillion dollars. They sound like dr. Evil. Like 100 million. Strange forces at work . Only if youre referring to gravityand we covered it. Talk to farmers. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum you wouldnt accept from any one else. Why accept it from your allergy pills . Flonase relieves your worst symptoms including nasal congestion, which most pills dont. Flonase helps block 6 key inflammatory substances. Most pills only block one. Flonase. danny after a long day of hard work. You have to do more work . Every day youre nearly fried to a crisp, professionally can someone turn on the ac . no . Oh right. cause there isnt any. 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I want you to imagine theres members down with the Green New Deal and 100 members of the u. S. Senate down for the Green New Deal and a president down for the Green New Deal. [ laughter ] not the world we live in but just think about that world. Were going to exist in that world for a little bit. I want to bring in reana gunwright, who is the policy director and for those of you that dont know me, shes spent more time thinking about the Green New Deal than probably anyone. Is that true . Thats probably true. Youre humble. But its true. You have been working on this a lot and bring in congressman w rokanna. [ applause ] so were not talking about political obstacles. Zero emissions by 2050. Cut in half by 2030, right . Those are the goals basically around that . We got to start. Theres very pragmatic things we could do. Instead of the president yelling at the gmc on twitter to create jobs. You could expand the electric vehicle tax credit, link it to domestic manufacturing and open up a lot of the gm plants to make electric suvs. The Green New Deal is also the green energy race. China is making 50 of the electric vehicles. If you care about having that industry in the United States, why arent we building solar plants and wind plants . We could and this 93 trillion number is crazy. For 300 billion more dollars you could look at the math. We would match chinas spending and we could get to 50 solar and wind energy by 2025. Californias already doing it. Were going to get to 60 by 2030. [ applause ] so the 93 trillion, the figure the critics use, is that the figure youre thinking of . No. And first of all, you know, we wave a magic wand, and we passed the gre the Green New Deal resolution tomorrow. What happens . Nothing because its a resolution. What our resolution that we introduced means is that it passes the house and it passes the senate separately, it just means that we make it a National Priority and it says that the scope of the solution must be on the scale of the problem. And so it outlines the ways we can pursue that scope. But in order for us to actually pursue this agenda, we dont have to do it all at once. It outlines the ways and hows of doing it. One of the criticisms is its a wish list. Someone whos spent a lot of time thinking about this, is it technically feasible . Like do we have what we need right now if everyone was committed and we can spend as much money as we need to do get the u. S. To meet these goals emissionswise . Yeah, its i think the key piece people miss out on and why the Green New Deal is focused on investment is the workhorse piece. This is going to create millions off jobs. Right now its very broken. And we have these low unemployment numbers. And within certain communities, black communities like latin communities, unemployment is still quite high. So theres a lot of slack in our economy. What the Green New Deal is about is making sure we have the training that people have the health care that they need so they can move where jobs are. That people have universal family care, so they have child care so they can participate. Thats what sets the Green New Deal apart. When we have the full work force of america at the ready, what we can do is unknown. And the other note is this is not just about what industries were going to grow. Its about how were going to grow them. One of the reasons that we are really moving in the direction that we are moving in with good, dignified, unionized jobs is because [ applause ] a couple of weeks ago the New York Times took a deep dive in the resolution and said the Green New Deal is technologically possible but is it politically feasible . And we cannot allow for fossil fuel jobs to be better, more dignified and higher wage with a stronger Labor Movement behind it than new energy jobs, and so we need to transition and have just transition, because what im tired of is us worrying more about the future of fossil fuels than worrying about the future of fossil fuel workers. Right. Right. [ applause ] and the congresswoman brings up a good point. That is one of the reasons the Green New Deal ties together Climate Change and income and equality, because the same types off investments were talking about in the Green New Deal to tackle Climate Change are the same investments we have needed to tackle income equality from the very beginning. Final question for you. California is sort of the leader right now. I think its fair to say. Theres a cap and trade. Theyve managed to bring down emissions even like in absolute terms. Emissions have come down in california. What are the lessons about the frontiers possible in your state . Well, california is a leader but so are states like iowa and texas and i want to say that because this is something that states across the country can do. California has set a a standard. 60 Renewable Energy by 2030. Every new home built in 2020 should have solar panels on it. Theres Real Investment in creating solar farms and wind farms. This is something so eminently doable in our country and the idea the economics dont make sense is a myth. The republicans just in candor, if they were to come back and say, okay, we want to spend 500 billion. We dont want to do this, we can start a discussion. But theyre engaged in nonsense. Exactly. Theyre engaged in nonsense. [ applause ] and, you know, and they wave and they say its going to cost a bazillion doctors. They sound like dr. Evil. Like 100 million and how about we start by fully funding the pensions of coal miners in west virginia. [ applause ] how about we start by rebuilding flint . You know, lets just start now. [ applause ] rhiana gunnwright and senator ro khanna, thank you so much. The political obstacles and promises after this quick break. Dont go anywhere. Maybe its universal, maybe its basic income later. Hey, hey, hey. Thats unacceptable and thats the difference between me and trump. Limu emu doug mmm, exactly Liberty Mutual customizes your Car Insurance, so you only pay for what you need. Nice but uh, whats up with your partner . Oh we just spend all day telling everyone how we customize Car Insurance because no two people are alike, so. Limu gets a little confused when he sees another bird that looks exactly like him. Ya. Hell figure it out. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Heartburn and gas . 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Eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. Tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. Eliquis, the number one cardiologistprescribed blood thinner. Ask your doctor if eliquis is whats next for you. Were back here with alexandria ocasiocortez. In the bronx for our Green New Deal. We were talking about the technical feasibility of zeroing out emissions. So we have to hit those head on and i want to talk about that with Heather Magee who is a distinguished senior fellow. Worked about moving policy and an msnbc analyst and he has scars to show for the degree he cares about Climate Change. A republican congressman from South Carolina who was primaried in 2010 and defeated largely because you said you believed in Climate Change. Have things gotten better or worse politically on the republican side of the aisle since 2010 . Much better. Incredibly better. Is that true . Absolutely. Really . Plaintiffs exhibit number 1, if you will, headline, republican side of of the house energy and Commerce Committee february the 6th, republicans are focused on pragmatic decisions to Climate Change. Next day fred upton, greg walton and john shimkus penned an oped, it said Climate Change is real and we, Republican Leadership are ready to do something about it. Mitch mcconnell just this week said he does believe in off the floor. In the press conference. To the press he said he does believe that humans cause Climate Change. This is mitch mcconnell. And i think thats a result of the millions of particularly young people who have been mobilizing on this issue. [ applause ] yeah. I think that [ applause ] and i dont think you would have alexander and mcconnell for the first time this month say human being are causing it and its real if it werent for a solution rooted in one of the most popular pieces of legislation. The new deal is coming out here saying we can create millions of jobs. 24 did a fundamentally popular idea. Its popular in colorado, in north carolina, in iowa, in maine, these places where republican senators are looking at their prospects and saying why do we want to be the party of no on millions of new jobs . Lets say 2021, lets say theres a democratic president and theres a democratic majority in the house and through [ applause ] remarkable inside strait theres democrats have a majority of the senate like theres not the votes for this, right . Thats what everyone says. This is so far from this is the way it was designed. I encourage everyone here and watching to actually look it up because we intentionally wrote it for the people of the United States. Because im not here necessarily to convince my colleagues. Im here to go straight to the electorate because [ applause ] and thats why i firmly believe that this is not a partisan issue because frankly there are democrats who will get in our way from saving ourselves too but do you want to name them . [ laughter ] but you probably already know but the thing is is that you dont necessarily have to replace everybody. You can if you want to. You dont necessarily have to replace everyone. If the electorate prioritizes it and overwhelmingly supports it, then we create the political room to pass it. [ applause ] i guess to ask you, bob. Like theres two ways of looking at the Green New Deal. Ive seen conservatives say youre alienating the people you need. They hate all the socialism stuff. Just focus on the carbon tax and you can make a grand coalition. And i see other people saying we tried that for 20 years and it hasnt gotten anywhere. What do you think . I think were seeing a formation of a tea party to the left. The tea party to the right that tossed me out ten years ago and went into this decade of disastrous disputation, i think were at risk of that happening now on the left because last night donald trump was in michigan. There was a crowd that was really cheering for him. They were also chanting aoc sucks at some point i think. Whats the difference between last night and tonight . This is the mirror image. This is the flip side. This is the this is the [ audience reacts ] you guys are making fun what i will say let me think about that. So heres what i think. What i think is that we are committed to policies that make american lives better and were actually talking about something substantive. Were not calling anyone names. People say tea party of the left, and i find this phrase very interesting, this phrasing very interesting because the grounding of the tea party was xenophobia, the underpinnings of white supremacy. [ applause ] but you know i understand politically people say tea party to the left because im a progressive democrat that won in a primary election and ousted the fourth most powerful person in the democratic party. [ applause ] i understand why people would say tea party of the left. The exception is that my district is overwhelmingly progressive and our representative was not representing our actual position. So this is not a tea party of the left. This is a return to american representative democracy. [ applause ] and heres a really big difference. Heres a really big difference, the Koch Brothers founded the tea party and every day people funded my campaign. [ applause ] i want to come back to this point. When people say i mean theres two ways to interpret the tea party. Right . One is as a sort of feckless and nihilistic enterprise that has led to this bad situation. The other is a very effective Political Movement. For instance, if you are organizing a Political Movement because you dont want action on Climate Change, the tea party was an effective movement. They literally primaried you and got you out and they delayed action on Climate Change. So at some level, i wonder this all the time with progressive activists. When you think, heather, of tea party to the left, do you think of that as a good or bad thing . I think about the country i want to see. Just the Green New Deal even when pressure tested and talking about higher taxes and, you know, saying, oh, my gosh, democrats are proposing it, its more popular than the republican tax cuts, the 1. 5 trillion we just found to give away to corporations and the healthy. Its more popular than the wall. So when we have this idea that left ideas are moving and shaking inside the political atmosphere right now, its true. But theyre less in terms of inside of washington. This terms of the American People theyre at the centrist ideas because you are theyre about taking it back. What we do is if we have a basically the mirror image of a trump rally on Climate Change, that we drive all the people away that could come our way and solve this thing now and then could we come back to things like universal basic income . Could we come back to health care . Because, you know, i was in two congress that were totally consumed by health care. You cant do it in a single congress the entire Green New Deal. It is literally impossible with the number of committee references that you would have in the course of that. So is it possible that we say listen, Climate Change is the thing that were seeing the whites of its eyes. Weve got to act now. Can we come back maybe to universal basic income a little bit later . [ audience reacts ] hey, hey, hey, thats unacceptable and thats the difference between me and trump. Thats good. I appreciate that. [ applause ] now, back to the actual issue. Back to the actual issue. You do not wave a wand and press or pass an omnibus all at once but we can these priorities, and i absolutely agree with you on that, however, this is the way political opposition works. They dont say no. They say maybe, um, who, ha. Its the walk. Yeah, and heres the thing is, i get that in our political context in the history of health care, in the history of labor rights, in the history of womens rights, these are long struggles and intergenerational struggles and that is something important for us as young activists, as well. Were not the first. We will not be on the last. We stand on the shoulders of giants, but Climate Change is different because we have an expiration date, and the ipcc report says weve got 12 years to turn it around. 12 years. So my concern is that we are going to be the frog in the pot of boiling water, and we are going to debate and debate and debate and debate, and when we actually finally pass something, its a wimpy carbon tax and our kids are doomed. The pleasurehold is, we got 12 years to cut emissions in half and if you want to jump into that debate, great. Thats what the debate is. But thats the debate. You want to get in the pool, get in the pool and well have a debate but thats how everybody thats the threshold to get people in, and i think itself is a pretty revolutionary change. Heather mcghee and bob inglis, thank you. Good to be with you. Thank you. Well be right back with alexandria ocasiocortez after this. Dont go anywhere. Man you can do this grab those command picture hanging strips and lets make it work. Theyre tool free and they hold strong. Oh, rustic chic an arrow angled to point at rustic chic. Hmm, may i be honest here . Lets take that down, damage free, with a stretch, remove. And look no marks, no mess. Like a pro. Command. Do. No harm. Like a pro. Hey, who are you . Oh, hey jeff, im a car thief. What . im here to steal your car because, well, thats my job. What . What . . What . laughing what . . What . what . [crash] what . haha, it happens. And if youve got cutrate Car Insurance, paying for this could feel like getting robbed twice. So get allstate. And be better protected from mayhem. Like me. Openturning 50 opens theuard. Door to a lot of new things. Like now your doctor may be talking to you about screening for colon cancer. Luckily theres me, cologuard. The noninvasive test you use at home. It all starts when your Doctor Orders me. Then its as easy as get, go, gone. You get me when im delivered. Right to your front door and in the privacy of your own home. Theres no prep or special diet needed. You just go to the bathroom, to collect your sample. After that, im gone, shipped to the lab for dna testing that finds colon cancer and precancer. Cologuard is not right for everyone. It is not for high risk individuals, including those with a history of colon cancer or precancer. Ibd, certain Hereditary Cancer syndromes, or a Family History of colon cancer. Maybe ill be at your door soon ask your doctor if cologuard is right for you. Covered by medicare and most major insurers. Were in the bronx with congresswoman alexandria ocasiocortez. She represents this district here. You ran a primary that was successful, a campaign that was successful by saying, look, the status quo was broken in some way an came to washington as the youngest woman ever to represent a district saying we have to change how things are and there is also the fact youre doing a new thing and learning how to do it like any freshman rep. How do you balance those two . Particularly in the context of this big new policy problem, right, like heres a civilizational challenge. How do you balance those two imperatives . I think what is great about it, i believe coming in as a freshman member does give us an advantage when it comes to approaching new policies because we arent weighed down by how things have historically been done and because we have an office that does not accept any corporate pac money, is not funded by any corporations [ applause ] it gives us incredible latitude. When you come in, no one kind of tells you exactly how to do everything, every little thing. So we just structure everything in order to prioritize social, racial and Economic Justice from how we staff to how we prioritize a particular policy. And we dont know that were even doing things differently. Well go to another member and say this is how were doing things and they are like what . Were like, oh, is this strange . And so it is you know, we dont know any different, but its to our advantage because we can structure our approach differently. How do you think about your future . Youre 29 years old. Yeah. You can are you like is this your lifes calling . Is this what youre doing . I have always felt and for a very long time have felt that my lifes calling is to serve people. I didnt know that that was going to lead me to congress. I didnt know that this is where it would take me, and so i cant, and i wont project into the future. How i feel is that i will at any given time do the thing that i think can create the most good and the most opportunity for good, and that could mean that im in office for two years and i just take huge political risks for the next two years and they kick me out 3. 6 because they realize i dont belong there, you know. Or it could mean that im there longer, but for me i think that its always about asking the question of, where and how can i do the most good and where can i do the most good for my community and the country and thats really what guides my decisionmaking. [ applause ] that does it for our special with congresswoman alexandria ocasiocortez. We will have much pore to talk about so well keep this conversation going and put it up on our website as a special all in extra. Please check it out. Special thanks to our guest and our audience and, of course, to congresswoman alexandria ocasiocortez. Have a good night. Happy friday. Thanks for joining us this hour. Turns out, the news rules of this era were all living through have not been suspended. It is friday night and, therefore, per unshakable degree from our generations news gods, things are, of course, a little bit nuts in tonights news and weve had a whole bunch of breaking and developing stories over the course of this evening. Tonight, for example, we have new word that the Oversight Committee in congress is preparing to subpoena the white house personnel security director, specifically to respond to ongoing questions about how this administration has handled or mishandled security clearances. That is a question that started off as an acute one very early on in the Trump Administration given the criminal charges that were brought against Trump National security advisor mike flynn. Similar concerns have continued most r