Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez urges Democrats to focus on student debt, abortion rights in 2024

David Jackson, USA TODAY
Updated Sun, January 28, 2024 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. said Sunday President Joe Biden should be doing more to promote his own domestic agenda, rather than rely on attacks against former President Donald Trump as both men seek a second term in office.

"I think we can certainly do more to be advancing our vision," Ocasio-Cortez said on NBC's "Meet The Press," adding that Biden and the Democrats should talk more about health care, student loan debt and abortion rights.

Ocasio-Cortez, one of the leading progressive voices in the Democratic Party, also said Trump has "extraordinary vulnerabilities" as he seeks reelection, including including criminal indictments, major lawsuits and and lagging support from moderate voters.

But as Biden seeks to build a broad coalition in 2024, Ocasio-Cortez on Sunday also did not say whether Biden has directly reached out to her about his reelection bid.

"We've been in contact with the Biden administration throughout my term and throughout his term, as well," she said.

The Biden campaign in a statement later on Sunday said the president is already trying to pursue many of the issues Ocasio-Cortez outlined, including health care and Medicare.

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

On the foreign policy front, the New York Democrat called on the United States to push for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, saying young Americans are "appalled at the violence and the indiscriminate loss of life."

Her comments come as talks intensified Sunday on a potential agreement under which Israel would pause military operations against Hamas for two months in exchange for the release of more than 100 remaining hostages.

Contributing: John Bacon, USA TODAY

Ocasio-Cortez says Democrats can ‘do more’ to tout accomplishments

Lauren Sforza
Sun, January 28, 2024 


Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said the Democratic Party needs to “do more” to promote its accomplishments and its “vision” for the country.

“I think we can certainly do more to be advancing our vision. And I believe that we have a strong vision that we can run on,” Ocasio-Cortez said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

She credited President Biden with promising voters he would codify abortion rights if Democrats win the House and keep control of the Senate in 2024 but said the party could do more to connect with voters. She said Democrats should be talking more about health care and student loan forgiveness to convince voters why they should vote for Biden and not just against former President Trump.

“We can talk even more about the fact that public colleges and universities should be tuition free or reduced. The president has advanced student loan forgiveness just this month for people who have taken out SAVE loans under $12,000,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “They will see their loans wiped out.”

“But I do believe that advancing that affirmative vision is going to be very, very important as well as really laying out and showing, between now and November, through our governing decisions, our governing decisions, when we have that power in the White House, what we are willing to do with it,” she added.

Anchor Kristen Welker then asked Ocasio-Cortez whether the Biden team has reached out to her to help Biden’s reelection bid. She said she has been in contact with the administration throughout his term, but she said she is committed to working with movements on policy issues across the country.

She said she is “committed” to ensuring those movements “are not stamped out with a Trump presidency.”

“I think my role is in allegiance to people’s movements across this country: in the labor movement that had extraordinary gains last year, whether it was the Teamsters, whether it was UAW’s historic contract, whether it is the bubbling labor fights that we are seeing across the country,” Ocasio-Cortez said.