AOC defends Green New Deal, says narrative being 'manipulated' by Trump, other critics

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GOP lawmakers pitch alternatives to AOC's Green New Deal

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., appeared on a late-night comedy talk show Thursday night but was stone-cold serious in her defense of the Green New Deal, the cornerstone of her progressive agenda.

When asked by “Late Night” host Seth Meyers if President Trump’s claims that “cows farting” and “hamburgers” would be outlawed were true, Ocasio-Cortez firmly answered “No.”

AOC'S DISASTROUS 'GREEN NEW DEAL' IS JEOPARDIZING BIPARTISAN ATTEMPTS TO ACTUALLY HELP OUR ENVIRONMENT

“I think it’s good to see how these narratives are manipulated," Ocasio-Cortez said, "because they’re trying to say that the Green New Deal is about what we have to give up, what we have to cut back on, when in fact the Green New Deal itself is resolution to be more expansive.

"They’re trying to say that the Green New Deal is about what we have to give up, what we have to cut back on, when in fact the Green New Deal itself is resolution to be more expansive."

— U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.

“It is to be able to generate more," she continued, "and to make sure that we’re investing in working-class Americans so that we all can afford to have more in life, so that an affordable apartment isn’t a dream but a norm and that health care is a right and not a privilege."

The self-described Democratic socialist stressed that the Green New Deal she introduced in February “is not a bill,” but a “resolution” that doesn’t require the president’s signature.

"If we passed a resolution in the House, it doesn’t go into the Senate and it doesn’t go to the president," she explained. "It is a House resolution. It is a declaration. It is an intentional, vision document. ... Listen, if we’re going to make progress, we need to declare our North Star, and our North Star is 100 percent renewable energy, it’s Medicare For All, it’s tuition-free public colleges, it’s investing in technology and renewable resources and electric vehicles. ... The resolution of the Green New Deal is the vision of what we need to accomplish in the next ten years."

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Ocasio-Cortez's plan has received some pushback recently, including from the AFL-CIO and a co-founder of the environmental group Greenpeace.

In a letter last week to Ocasio-Cortez and Green New Deal co-sponsor U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., the AFL-CIO asserted the Democrats' plan would cause "immediate harm" to union workers and their families.

Earlier this month, Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore criticized the plan as "completely crazy," telling Ocasio-Cortez, "You would bring about mass death."