Ocasio Cortez Victory
4/14/2022
Ocasio Cortez Victory Average ratng: 3,9/5 9384 reviews
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 28, 2021 After the insurrection at the Capitol earlier this month, Cruz — and other congressional Republicans — has been widely criticized for his insistence on objecting to the results of the 2020 election, echoing former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims that victory was stolen from him.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez declared victory when Amazon announced Thursday that it would not build a second headquarters (known as HQ2) in Queens, New York. Gov. Andrew Cuomo called it a “lost economic opportunity” and blamed “a small group [of] politicians [who] put their own narrow political interests above their community.”
The dispute between the two Democrats lays bare a divide over the plan to offer $2.8 billion in tax breaks for Amazon to establish a major presence in New York City. On one side, old hands like Cuomo; on the other, the newly insurgent, left-leaning wing represented by Ocasio-Cortez.
Congresswoman tells senator who rejected Biden’s victory: ‘If you want to help, you can resign’ Amanda Holpuch and agencies Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the campaign trail in June. — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 28, 2021 The partisan divide over the riot has only deepened as new details emerge about the violence of the Jan. After Ocasio-Cortez initially won her House seat in 2018 – securing nearly 80% of the vote – she went on to become the youngest woman ever to serve in Congress at age 29. Her win in the June 2018.
“Today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers and their neighbors defeated Amazon’s corporate greed, its worker exploitation and the power of the richest man in the world,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter. The new development would have been in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens, near Ocasio-Cortez’s district.
The outspoken freshman Congresswoman was a critic of the deal Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio had brokered with Amazon.
Cuomo and other supporters of the project said that Amazon would have brought more than enough investment to the city to justify the tax breaks, and would have established New York as a tech hub to rival other hubs like San Francisco.
Additionally, he said, HQ2 would have brought “at least 25,000-40,000 good paying jobs for our state and nearly $30 billion dollars in new revenue to fund transit improvements, new housing, schools and countless other quality-of-life improvements.”
However, Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter questioned the validity of the jobs figure and pointed to a report that Amazon will pay zero federal income tax in 2018, despite $11 billion in profits.
“$0 for schools. $0 for firefighters. $0 for infrastructure. $0 for research and healthcare,” she tweeted Thursday. “Why should corporations that contribute nothing to the pot be in a position to take billions from the public?”
In Amazon’s search for a city to host HQ2, the company invited city boards to put forward bids, which Ocasio-Cortez and others criticized as a means for the company to secure the largest tax breaks possible.
Ocasio-Cortez was elected to Congress for the first time in last year’s midterm elections. The following week, Amazon announced that New York and Arlington, Va., were the winners of its much-hyped HQ2 search competition. Immediately, the congresswoman-elect stated her opposition to the proposal.
“Amazon is a billion-dollar company. The idea that it will receive hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks at a time when our subway is crumbling and our communities need MORE investment, not less, is extremely concerning to residents here,” she said on Twitter last November. “It’s possible to establish economic partnerships [with] real opportunities for working families, instead of a race-to-the-bottom competition.”
Amazon has said it will continue to hire extra workers in New York despite walking back its HQ2 plans.
Get our Politics Newsletter. The headlines out of Washington never seem to slow. Subscribe to The D.C. Brief to make sense of what matters most.
Thank you!
For your security, we've sent a confirmation email to the address you entered. Click the link to confirm your subscription and begin receiving our newsletters. If you don't get the confirmation within 10 minutes, please check your spam folder.Read Next
Family of NY Inmate Who Died After Pepper Spray Speak Out
Next Up: Editor's Pick
Why 'The Great Gatsby' Now 'Belongs to the People'
EDIT POSTRep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) claimed victory after Amazon announced its intention to lease office space in Manhattan, news which followed the lawmaker’s efforts to prevent the company from putting its second headquarters in New York City, which would have created 25,000 jobs.
Ocasio-Cortez celebrated the reports indicating that Amazon agreed to lease a 335,000-square-foot office space in Manhattan opening in 2021, which will bring an estimated 1,500 jobs to the area.
The news follows Amazon’s decision to back out of a deal to move its HQ2 project to Long Island City, which “could have created between 25,000 and 40,000 jobs with an average salary of $150,000,” as Breitbart News reported. Ocasio-Cortez opposed the idea due to the agreement’s “tax breaks and financial incentives” and celebrated Amazon’s decision to ditch the plan as a victory over “corporate greed.”
“Won’t you look at that: Amazon is coming to NYC anyway – *without* requiring the public to finance shady deals, helipad handouts for Jeff Bezos, & corporate giveaways,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted following Friday’s announcement.
“Maybe the Trump admin should focus more on cutting public assistance to billionaires instead of poor families,” she added:
Won’t you look at that: Amazon is coming to NYC anyway – *without* requiring the public to finance shady deals, helipad handouts for Jeff Bezos, & corporate giveaways.
Maybe the Trump admin should focus more on cutting public assistance to billionaires instead of poor families. https://t.co/BbqhXbB9MM
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 6, 2019
She also posted a picture of herself sitting smugly on a couch with the caption, “Me waiting on the haters to apologize after we were proven right on Amazon and saved the public billions”:
Ocasio Cortez Speech Today
Me waiting on the haters to apologize after we were proven right on Amazon and saved the public billions https://t.co/AC64pG0nZIpic.twitter.com/xzCepkX4AV
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 6, 2019
However, critics were quick to point out that her victory lap is unwarranted, as Amazon’s current plan brings significantly fewer jobs, and the location is not within her district.
“I’m thanking her! Amazon is going up in my town instead. We need the jobs!” one user wrote.
“You realize you still cost your own district tens of thousands of jobs, right? And since Amazon isn’t building you also cost the city billions in revenue,” another added. “This is such an odd and sad victory lap. lol.”
“She caused a 25,000 job expansion in NY to go to 1,500 jobs in a rented space,” another remarked.
More:
Another day, another viral misleading tweet from AOC. Amazon is leasing office space in Manhattan for 1,500 employees, which is 6% of the 25,000 jobs its HQ2 in Queens (her district) was supposed to add. https://t.co/aQM6Uv77Qx
Ocasio Cortez Twitter
— Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) December 6, 2019
The Amazon HQ deal you destroyed in Queens would’ve employed 25,000+ people. The new space will employ 1,500. 25,000+ good jobs and increased economic activity at a growing headquarters is far > than 1,500 jobs at a non-HQ. You have an embarrassing lack of business knowledge.
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) December 7, 2019
It's incredible how dumb your followers are and how they're praising you for this.
Amazon was initially offering 25,000 jobs in YOUR DISTRICT to now only offering 1,500 jobs OUTSIDE your district.
Meaning you caused 94% job loss in NYC.
— Caleb Hull 🎅🏻🎁 (@CalebJHull) December 7, 2019
The Amazon at the Queens location would have employed 25,000 workers, this location at Hudson Yards will hire 1,500. https://t.co/9D6MBK3eLA
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) December 6, 2019
And you only cost the city 23,500 jobs. Congrats.
— Carmine Sabia (@CarmineSabia) December 7, 2019
Amazon is now going to create just 6% of the jobs they would've before AOC killed their deal with NYC (1,500 vs 25,000), but by all means take a victory lap for the 23,500 jobs that are never coming to NYC thanks to AOC. https://t.co/Ix35LwKJ9w
— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) December 7, 2019