Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slams Harvard orientation for freshman lawmakers as 'lobbyist project' that hypes tax cuts for corporations

pulse

December 10, 2018 12:56 PM

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized the longstanding congressional intro program at Harvard Kennedy School, which is meant to show new lawmakers the ropes.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at a rally opposing Judge Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court in October 2018.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accused the congressional orientation program at Harvard Kennedy School for being a "pro-corporate lobbyist project."
She said that the event featured lobbyists and bankers who praised policies like a lower minimum wage.
"No labor reps were there," she tweeted. "Was this a multi-decade, pro-corporate lobbyist project the entire time?"
Her comments come as she and other newly elected Democratic lawmakers protested the event and instead led a rally for policies like gun control and laws to fight climate change.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has accused the orientation session for freshman lawmakers at Harvard's Kennedy School of being a " " that hypes tax cuts for corporations and argues against increasing the minimum wage.

The Democratic congresswoman-elect and other incoming House Democrats have been protesting their own congressional orientation program over the past week.

They argue that the orientation is inherently biased, being being made up of lobbyist and bankers, and with nobody to present workers or grassroots politics.

Ocasio-Cortez doubled down on her earlier criticism on Twitter on Sunday, saying that attendees at the orientation, which has been going on since the 1970s, "

Was this a multi-decade, pro-corporate lobbyist project the entire time?"

Ocasio-Cortez was responding to Washington Post reporter Jill Stein, who tweeted that she got a copy of the 2014 Harvard orientation schedule.

She said it showed: "

The three-day orientation is hosted by the Harvard Institute of Politics in collaboration with the Congressional Institute and two think tanks: the American Enterprise Institute, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"Gary Cohn, former CEO Goldman Sachs addressing new members of Congress today: 'You guys are way over your head, you don't know how the game is played,'" Tlaibtweeted. "No Gary, YOU don't know what's coming - a revolutionary Congress that puts people over profits."

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