Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called out Republican Rep. Randy Weber on Wednesday after he criticized her for speaking to the camera during a House hearing on Medicaid cuts.
At about 3 a.m. during the House Energy and Commerce Committee markup of a Republican bill that would institute the biggest cuts in Medicaid’s history, Weber (R-TX) cut off Rep. Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and asked her to address members of the committee, not the camera. Ocasio-Cortez had been asking Republicans about whether women who suffer miscarriages would be exempt from the GOP’s proposed Medicaid work requirement.
“I’m glad you’re addressing us instead of speaking to the camera,” Weber said to Ocasio-Cortez as he cut her off. “We’d like for you to address the Republicans, and let’s have a dialogue this way and not to a camera.”
About 15 minutes later, after fellow New York Democrat Yvette Clarke defended her, Ocasio-Cortez fired back, waving to the camera and speaking to viewers:
“There are 13.7 million Americans on the other side of that screen right there,” she said. “I am talking to them and I will not yield, because it was a terribly disrespectful comment and I will not yield to disrespectful men.”
