Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.) said that she was disappointed in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) for trying to diminish progressive voices during a Sunday appearance on ABC's This Week.
Host Martha Raddatz asked Tlaib about Pelosi's recent criticism of Tlaib and three other prominent progressives who voted against the border aid bill passed before the July 4th recess.
"What would you say directly to Nancy Pelosi?" Raddatz asked.
"All of us have these experiences that I think have been missing in the halls of Congress. Honor that, respect that, put us at the table. Let's come up with a solution together," Tlaib said. "It is very disappointing that the Speaker would ever try to diminish our voices in so many ways."
In an interview with the New York Times, Pelosi downplayed the influence of Tlaib, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D., Mass.).
"All these people have their public whatever and their Twitter world," Pelosi said. "But they didn’t have any following. They’re four people and that’s how many votes they got."
"People like us ... we're reflective of our nation in many ways," Tlaib responded. "But more people like us have been missing in the halls of Congress. More people like us, people of color, have been missing in the chamber. We know what it feels like to be dehumanized. We know what it feels like to be brown and black in this country."
Ocasio-Cortez also responded to Pelosi in a series of tweets.
"That public ‘whatever' is called public sentiment. And wielding the power to shift it is how we actually achieve meaningful change in this country," the representative wrote to her more than 4.5 million Twitter followers.
That public 'whatever" is called public sentiment.
And wielding the power to shift it is how we actually achieve meaningful change in this country. https://t.co/u6JtgwwRsk
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 7, 2019
"I find it strange when members act as though social media isn't important," she added in a subsequent tweet, saying that congress members "campaign like it's 2008."
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