Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) called the botched rollout of her Green New Deal resolution one of her early mistakes as a lawmaker in an interview posted on Monday, saying it was done "too fast."
The youngest woman ever elected to Congress was a guest on Yahoo's "Skullduggery" podcast, where she recounted the February release of her far-reaching, intersectional effort to combat climate change, which has an estimated price tag of $94 trillion. A "FAQ" released by her office included details like providing economic security for those "unwilling to work," upgrading every building in the country, ending air travel, and eliminate "farting cows."
The widely mocked document remained live on her site for hours before being taken down, and one of her advisers claimed on Tucker Carlson Tonight it had been "doctored" by Republicans before later recanting the false claim.
"Our GND rollout was really difficult," Ocasio-Cortez said. "It was done in a way that it was really easy to hijack the narrative around it. It was, like, too fast ... I actually think the resolution itself is very solid, but, you know, between how it was rolled out and, there were like competing documents that were rolled out, some prematurely, that muddied the waters."
"So then everyone was talking about cow farts and banning hamburgers," podcast co-host Daniel Klaidman said.
"Right, when none of those things are in the resolution itself. ... It was just frustrating. Just intensely frustrating," Ocasio-Cortez said. "I always feel like when I reflect on things, I feel like it's less feeling like things are mistakes ... I feel like I'm fine-tuning."
Ocasio-Cortez herself offered contradictory messaging on the Green New Deal, telling one interviewer that combating climate change would require "massive government" intervention but later telling MSNBC that it was a mischaracterization by political opponents to suggest that.
She has also previously blamed an anonymous staffer for posting the FAQ document before it was ready, telling Chris Hayes last month that one of her aides had a "really bad day."
The resolution itself has been criticized by the right as unserious and unworkable, and even some prominent progressives have derided it. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) told Rolling Stone it went beyond Congress's charge in dealing with climate change, criticizing its "intersectional" aspects delving into single-payer health care and a jobs guarantee. Former Obama energy secretary Ernest Moniz said its 10-year timeline of eliminating the U.S. carbon footprint "impractical."
Ocasio-Cortez hasn't taken kindly to criticism of her plan. In February, she declared herself "the boss" until someone came up with a better idea.
"Like I just introduced Green New Deal two weeks ago, and it's creating all of this conversation. Why? Because no one else has even tried," she said. "So people are like 'Oh it's unrealistic, oh it's vague, oh it doesn't address this little, minute thing.' And I'm like, you try, you do it! Because you're not! Because you're not. So until you do it, I'm the boss! How about that?"