Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren endorsed a Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) policy proposal that includes taxpayer-funded welfare benefits for illegal immigrants.
Ocasio-Cortez's proposal, dubbed "A Just Society," calls for nationwide rent control and bans the federal government from denying welfare benefits based on an individual's immigration status and previous criminal convictions. Warren became the first Democratic presidential candidate to endorse the plan, calling it "just the type of bold, comprehensive thinking we'll need" to make "big, structural change."
Ocasio-Cortez is considered to be "one of the most important endorsements in America," and Warren's immediate support of her latest policy marks another attempt to win the freshman congressman's nod of approval. Warren's quick embrace of Ocasio-Cortez's plan is the latest sign of the social media superstar's policy impact on the Democratic presidential field.
Neither Ocasio-Cortez nor Warren returned requests for comment.
Ocasio-Cortez's proposal, consisting of six separate bills, calls for the expansion of welfare. Bills three and four make it illegal for the federal government to deny welfare benefits to ex-convicts and illegal immigrants. The legislation does not address how to pay for the rising cost of welfare, nor does it explain how it would accomplish its goals.
"It's been really hard for me to find housing. I have the money to move places and stuff, but they deny me for my felony history. It's not right," a man with a face tattoo said in the legislative package's announcement video.
Ocasio-Cortez's second bill, titled "The Place to Prosper Act," calls for federal rent control by imposing a 3 percent national cap on annual rent increases. Similar legislation has failed at the local level amid concerns that such policies increased housing prices while limiting supply. A recent study by the American Economic Association found that San Francisco rent control policy "drove up market rents in the long run, ultimately undermining the goals of the law." The Council of Economic Advisers found that in 11 metropolitan areas with housing regulations, deregulation would reduce homelessness by an average of 31 percent. More than 80 percent of economists surveyed by the University of Chicago in 2012 found rent control to be bad policy.
Ocasio-Cortez's proposal also includes an official poverty guideline that accounts for "new necessities," such as internet access, while the fifth bill creates a "worker-friendly score" based on union membership and other factors that would be used to evaluate or award government contracts.
The last bill in Ocasio-Cortez's proposal establishes health care, housing, and healthy food as government-provided rights.
A Just Society is Ocasio-Cortez's latest major policy initiative since introducing the Green New Deal, a $94.4 trillion environmental policy proposal that would have no effect on the environment.
All major Democratic presidential candidates quickly supported the Green New Deal, including Warren, Sanders, former vice president Joe Biden, and South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg.
To date, only Warren has endorsed "A Just Society."