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- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said her biggest mistake in Congress thus far was the rollout of her Green New Deal resolution.
- That rollout was complicated by a memo of talking points released by Ocasio-Cortez's office that included controversial proposals such as providing "economic security to all those who are unable or unwilling to work" and the eventual elimination of "farting cows and airplanes."
- "Our GND rollout was really difficult and it was done in a way that it was really easy to hijack the narrative around it," Ocasio-Cortez said during a Yahoo
News podcast interview aired on Monday, adding that the controversy was "intensely frustrating." - But Ocasio-Cortez has repeatedly avoided taking blame for the botched rollout, instead telling MSNBC's Chris Hayes last month that one of her staffers "had a really bad day."
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said her biggest mistake during her short time in Congress thus far was the rollout of her Green New Deal resolution.
That rollout was complicated by a memo of talking points released by Ocasio-Cortez's office that included controversial proposals such as providing "economic security to all those who are unable or unwilling to work" and the eventual elimination of "farting cows and airplanes."
That proposal, among several others in the six-page FAQ document, were not included in the final submitted resolution.
Ocasio-Cortez pointed to that controversy as one of her most significant blunders during her less than four months in office.
"Our GND rollout was really difficult and it was done in a way that it was really easy to hijack the narrative around it," the congresswoman told Yahoo News' "Skullduggery" podcast aired on Monday. "It was like, too fast, in some ways. I actually think the resolution itself is very solid, but between how it was rolled out - there were competing documents rolled out, some prematurely, that muddied the waters."
She added of the widespread criticism that followed, "It was intensely frustrating."
Ocasio-Cortez's chief of staff later said the document, authored by his team, was "bad copy" that was mistakenly published on the website. But the document with the "unwilling to work" provision was also sent to reporters, including NPR, which also published it.
The talking points also differed from the resolution on the role of nuclear power, the use of carbon capture, and the proposed timelines for many of these policies.
Ocasio-Cortez has repeatedly avoided taking blame for the botched rollout, instead telling MSNBC's Chris Hayes last month that one of her staffers "had a really bad day."
The Green New Deal - an ambitious policy proposal to fight climate change, spur economic growth, and improve social welfare - has since become a key pillar of Ocasio-Cortez's agenda and has garnered the support of the majority of Democrats running for president.