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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Derec said:
bilby said:
If someone calls in sick, their work is covered by "waiting time" operators - people who are paid to sit around the depot in case they're needed.
Generally the counter staff get the waiting time people to do odd jobs around the depot, such as putting deliveries away or posting staff notices and other clerical duties. But a lot of the time, they sit around drinking tea. At full pay.
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Sounds like a sweet deal for them, but don't people who actually have to work resent those who just sit around drinking tea all day for the same pay?
And how do you get such a cushy job? Be the son of the president of Local 1514 or something?
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It's a rotating duty. Everyone does it occasionally; Nobody does it all the time.
 
BMWED (@BMWEDIBT) / Twitter - "The BMWED is a national union representing the workers who build and maintain the tracks, bridges, buildings, ET & other structures on the railroads of the USA."

BMWED on Twitter: "Thank you, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez. We appreciate your support and your vote on this matter." / Twitter
noting her tweet
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Railroad workers grind themselves to the bone for this country as their labor produces billions for Wall St.
They demand the basic dignity of paid sick days. I stand with them.
If Congress intervenes, it should be to have workers’ backs and secure their demands in legislation." / Twitter

She responded
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Stay strong 💪🏽 we’ve got your back" / Twitter

From BMWED's feed: Investors press railroads to add sick time for workers | AP News
Major freight railroads are facing pressure to add sick days for their workers from a new front: An influential investment group says some of its members are now pushing the measure that Congress declined to as part of the contracts they imposed last week to avert a potentially devastating nationwide rail strike.

The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility said Monday that two investment managers it works with to help promote social change at companies had filed proposals at Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern railroads to give shareholders a vote on whether rail workers should get paid sick leave. Similar proposals are likely to be filed at CSX and at BNSF’s parent company of Berkshire Hathaway, but they haven’t been submitted yet. The ICCR represents 300 members with over $4 trillion in assets.
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "The last time we stood with @Teamsters Local 202, we stared down a national food crisis over resistance to a $1 raise.
Back then, railroad workers stood with us. They turned trains around to not cross a picket line.
We won then, and we can win now.
Let’s get these sick days 💪🏽
(vid link)" / Twitter
AOC spoke at a strike at Hunts Point some months back.

Johnny Walker on Twitter: "@AOC I work 6 days a week, 311 days a year. If I work into my off day when I get up, I may be lucky to have 14 hours to myself. I come home at all hours of the day or night and sometimes have to eat in the dark, so I don’t wake my family. Railroaders just want a better quality of life (pic link)" / Twitter

Jake Sherman on Twitter: "I just caught up with @AOC on the rail strike situation.
She is pushing hard to increase paid sick leave from 1 day to seven days . She's fighting "tooth and nail," she said, and called this a "show down."
Whether paid sick leave is boosted is in the senate's hands." / Twitter

See Mia Gobble 🦃 on Twitter: "Let's get those sick days! Paid sick leave is a disability issue. Let's support worker rights and support an amendment that provides more paid sick leave. During this pandemic, it's the least this Congress can do. #RailroadStrike #UnionStrong" / Twitter
 
Both bills went on to the Senate.

Marco Rubio on Twitter: "The railways & workers should go back & negotiate a deal that the workers,not just the union bosses,will accept
But if Congress is forced to do it,I will not vote to impose a deal that doesn’t have the support of the rail workers" / Twitter
He's a Republican.

Someone suggested one of Rep. Marie Newman's tweets as a better one.

Jonah Furman on Twitter: "It is exceedingly rare in the US for the White House to have direct control over union negotiations. This one was a layup. Put forward a bill to include paid sick days. Costs the rail carriers a fraction of their insane profits. Improves freight rail service. And Biden refuses." / Twitter
then
Marie Newman on Twitter: "Agree: paid leave should be the bare minimum. Workers and passengers deserve safety and quality. Good Lord, this is the U.S., not a third world country. Paid leave has to be part of the deal. Period." / Twitter
then
Marie Newman on Twitter: "To be clear, I stand with rail workers and passengers and will not support any legislation or deal unless it includes paid leave." / Twitter

AOC responded to the Senator:

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Glad we are on the same page re: railworkers’ paid sick days @marcorubio. A rarity, but we’ll take it.
The House just sent over what you asked for: the full TA deal w/ sick days as supported and demanded by our railworkers.
Can they count on your YES vote for the amendment?" / Twitter

Seems like AOC is a very conciliatory sort of person.
 
Ryan Grim on Twitter: "Union source tells me their next push will be to demand Biden include railway workers in the executive order that mandates 56 hours of paid sickleave" / Twitter

Noting Senate Blocks Sick Days For Rail Workers, Averts Strike by Forcing Biden Agreement - "Railroads have invested heavily in Congress. They got their payoff in the Senate."
The railroad companies, that is.

This split strategy is a bit like splitting off the infrastructure bill from Build Back Better, it seems to me.

Jonah Furman on Twitter: "@ChipGibbons89 @mrbrnn you can say it was a dumb trade (vote for the TA and you get a vote on the sick days) but the options were: TA is imposed (against your votes), or TA is imposed (with your votes) with chance for sick days. the CPC took the latter tack, supported by the unions." / Twitter
then
Ryan Grim on Twitter: "There seems to be ..." / Twitter
There seems to be a lot of confusion here about the vote yesterday. The unions wanted the progressive caucus and the Squad to vote the way they did, so they could fight in the Senate. You can disagree with that strategy but it’s the one the unions settled on.

The strategy let’s them fight in the Senate, where they’ll almost certainly lose. But they reasoned that almost certainly losing is better than certainly losing, which is what they were headed for in the House cuz Pelosi had the votes she needed to impose the bad agreement.

If your theory is that the Squad should ignore what the union wants, that’s fine, but make the argument for why that’s the right thing to do.
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "@ryangrim Yes, and not just national leadership either - we followed the strategy ask of our local unions, including rank + file we’ve picketed alongside before (like 202) as well as nationals that rejected ratification. In NY-14, locals ask was yes/yes so we could send paid sick to Senate" / Twitter
then
Tyler Hackner 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇵🇸🇵🇸☮️☮️ on Twitter: "@AOC @ryangrim Still disagree with the strategy considering this Senate but we’ll see" / Twitter
then
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "@HacknerTyler @ryangrim Perfectly reasonable. This is the best we could do w/ the hand we were dealt - WH sprung this on us & we had a window of <24h to secure sick leave when they had the votes locked to pass w/ no changes. Tanking wasn’t an option bc of GOP votes, we moved to keep sick leave alive" / Twitter

A lot of people in the online left attacked AOC and her squadmates for their strategy, but AOC deserves at least some credit for pushing paid sick leave.
 
BMWED on Twitter: "The only chance we had at obtaining sick leave was to pass both bills in the House. Without passing both, sick leave was sunk. @RepAOC voted for both measures because it was our only opportunity to advance sick leave and have a shot. AOC has always had our back and we thank her." / Twitter


U.S. Senate: U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 117th Congress - 2nd Session - for the tentative agreement - 3/5 to pass
D+I: Y 43, N 5, nv 2
R: Y 37, N 10, P 1, nv 2
Tot: Y 80, N 15, P 1, nv 4

Both Independents are Democrat-adjacent

The Democrats and Independents who voted against it: Kirsten Gillibrand NY, John Hickenlooper CO, Jeff Merkley OR, Elizabeth Warren MA, Bernie Sanders I-VT

Marco Rubio R-FL also voted against it.

Rand Paul R-KY voted "Present".

U.S. Senate: U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 117th Congress - 2nd Session - for the 7 days of paid sick leave - 3/5 to pass
D+I: Y 46, N 1, nv 3
R: Y 6, N 42, nv 2
Tot: Y 52, N 43, nv 5

The Republicans for it were Mike Braun IN, Ted Cruz TX, Lindsey Graham SC, Josh Hawley MO, John Kennedy LA, Marco Rubio FL.

The Democrat against it was Joe Manchin.

Kyrsten Sinema voted for both.
 
Bills Signed: H.J. Res. 100, H.R. 8454, S. 3826, and S. 3884 | The White House
On Friday, December 2, 2022, the President signed into law:

H.J. Res. 100, which provides for a resolution with respect to the unresolved disputes between certain railroads represented by the National Carriers’ Conference Committee of the National Railway Labor Conference and certain of their employees;

Thank you to Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, Leader McConnell, and many others for their leadership.
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Catching up - late in 2021:
Jamal Raad🌲 on Twitter: "Are you fucking kidding me @politico? (links)" / Twitter
noting
POLITICO Playbook PM: The early winners and losers of the emerging BBB framework - POLITICO
ON CLIMATE

Winner: Manchin; Loser: Environmentalists The entire climate agenda of the Biden administration is in question right now thanks to

one man and it's unclear if this dynamic will change, given the positions of the senator from coal-mining West Virginia.
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Then
Chris Hayes on Twitter: "This an example of what I was talking about yesterday. There is a complete and total inability of much of the political press to understand the actual scope of what we're talking about." / Twitter


Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "@chrislhayes It’s Beltway Brain. Lots of political press spend their time covering the day’s gossip & maneuvering w/ a number tossed in at the expense of covering impact.
Meanwhile 1/2 of these outlets are like “sponsored by big oil & pharma! Today’s guest editor is a right-wing YouTuber.”🙃" / Twitter
Beltway Brain?

The Beltway is a highway that encircles DC.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "@chrislhayes One thing I was shocked by here is that one outlet that regularly asks substantive questions for people’s understanding is (wait for it😬) TMZ of all places. They have to ask questions for a broader audience so it’s more “what does this mean for us” instead of“who scored a point”" / Twitter

Good journalism.
 
Elizabeth Kim on Twitter: "Joined by @AOC, Mayor de Blasio today announces $50 billion divestment from fossil fuels + new investment in renewables. The city is committing to net-zero emissions in all pension investments. (link)" / Twitter
Something that a Green New Dealer would like.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Actually good, major climate news: ..." / Twitter
Actually good, major climate news: today New York City is announcing its public pensions are fully divesting out of the fossil fuel industry and into renewables & climate - a massive shift of about $50 billion. 🌎

This move is led by NYC workers. Here’s why this is a big deal.⤵️
(previous tweet)

Pension funds are massive pools of money that fund retirement for teachers, city workers, and other public employees.

These funds invest throughout our economy, & the sheer size of pension plans in the US economy (~$5.5 trillion according to @PensionDialog) make them powerful.

I sit on the Financial Services Cmte & often see how Wall St leverages risky &/or unpopular investments onto public pensions, taking bets and setting up workers to hold the bag.

As fossil fuels sink in popularity, pension funds have been an important source for fossil fuel $.

That’s where workers come in to spark change. By demanding their retirements be divested of fossil fuels, workers and voters are precipitating large shifts of $ out of big oil, gas,etc.

That amps up pressure & leaves companies like Exxon w/ fewer places to get fossil fuel money.

NYC is home to some of the largest pensions in the country. If other cities & states join,we’re talking major shifts for climate.

And it’s not only pensions. Univ endowments can divest, too.

Want to help? Ask your school or pension to divest from fossil fuels & into climate😉🌎

And while it’s important to note that market-based approaches alone will NOT solve the climate crisis (in fact they largely created it to begin w/), divestment mvmts help create the conditions & pressure necessary for even larger leaps.

So there’s your good news of the day 🌎🗞

Kudos to @NYCComptroller for crunching the numbers and laying out the plan and @NYCMayorsOffice for executing on it
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Waleed Shahid on Twitter: "😭😭😭 (vid link)" / Twitter
Yes, I talk with Bernie on the phone a decent amount, not just because we're colleagues, but he's legitimately my friend ... and makes me happy.
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "It’s true ☺️ Love ya tío @BernieSanders, thank you for your friendship even though you may not see this and don’t have apps on your phone 🧓🏻👩🏽" / Twitter

It's nice to see her getting along so well with the one who inspired her to get into politics.

BTW, tío means "uncle" in Spanish. Rashida Tlaib calls him Amo Bernie, from the Arabic word for paternal uncle (father's brother) 'amm.

I might use Stric Bernie ("streets", Croatian for paternal uncle), Ilhan Omar Adeer Bernie (Somali), Pramila Jayapal Bernie Mama (Tamil uses name-title order), Jamie Raskin Feter Bernie (Yiddish), and Ayanna Pressley Aburo Bernie (Yoruba, a West African language).

In honor of AOC's First-Nation heritage, I note that the pre-European Caribbean people are descended from South Americans, and that they brought their language with them, which became Taino in PR and nearby. Taino and other Caribbean, Central American, and norther South American languages are Ta-Arawakan, part of a larger Arawakan family. Arawak, or Lokono Dian, is spoken in N South America, and its word for uncle is dinthi, with the th pronounced t + h, not English th. Pet Arawak Suriname .vp - e_Books_30_Pet_Arawak_Suriname.pdf Giving us Dinthi Bernie.
 
Annie Grayer on Twitter: "On the House floor, Liz Cheney entered this into the record calling out Jim Banks for sending letters to government agencies claiming he is the ranking member of the 1/6 committee even though he is not on the committee. (pic link)" / Twitter
then
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Feels like there are a zillion scandals ..." / Twitter
Feels like there are a zillion scandals a month Republicans get in that would result in my expulsion or sanction if I ever did the same

I know it’s a tired thing to say, but over time it’s a bummer to experience how systematically an institution treats different people

I wore a dress a month ago and people lost their minds in vitriol and attack.

Meanwhile we have members fraudulently claiming positions to access confidential information, abusing campaign funds, and raking in big pharma cash while blocking leg and we just normalize it and shrug

It never stops astounding me how much caution and work goes in every single day to get everything right, 2x as good, to avert even the perception of a mistake, bc if one happens it’s explosive. Just to look aside & know if you did anything close to what your peers do it’d be over

It’s not imposter syndrome when institutions actually do treat you differently yet pretend they don’t

It’s not imposter syndrome when institutions treat hardworking newcomers like invaders, yet normalize & accept deep corruption or incompetency from ppl we’re “used” to in power

Anyways this one goes out to anyone in any workplace or setting who deep down knows they need to put in Olympic level effort just to be treated as equivalent to a junior varsity walk-on.

I see you. It’s not fun, but it’s real - and it’s not in your head. Keep shining ✨
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "When you’re in the struggle, it can be hard to see everything you’ve accomplished so far.

What @NYTWA has done to fight for the lives of NYC cab drivers is nothing short of remarkable and inspiring.

Now they are on a hunger strike to bring it home. Let’s stand with them 💪🏽🚕⬇️" / Twitter
noting

NY Taxi Workers on Twitter: ".@AOC telling the story of our campaign for debt relief, back to when we testified before the @FSCDems in 2019. It’s remarkable to hear it back. Justice will prevail. It is long overdue. (vid link)" / Twitter
 
October 2021:
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Thank you for joining Team Walton, @SenSchumer!" / Twitter
In praise of him endorsing her. That was India Walton, who won the Democratic primary for Mayor of Buffalo, only to lose when incumbent mayor Byron Brown did a sore-loser campaign.

Charlie Baker on Twitter: "The line for the @AOC event for @Indiawaltonbflo is… long (vid link)" / Twitter
then
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "See you soon, Buffalo! 👋🏽 It’s time to early vote for @Indiawaltonbflo! 🗳" / Twitter

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "The skirt is perfect 🐶 #TaxTheRich" / Twitter
noting
Amanda Litman on Twitter: "A perfect @aoc homage at the Thompkins Dog Run Halloween Parade. (pic link)" / Twitter
A dog wearing a "Tax the Rich" dress.


Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Major NY14 climate victory today! 🌎
Earlier this year, fossil fuel co NRG began to rush high-pollution, fracked-gas peaker plants into our community.
We organized all year against it while securing wind + solar projects. Today the plant was denied
When we mobilize, we win💪🏽 (vid link)" / Twitter
"We" meaning lots of local activists, I'm sure. She's spoken to them some months earlier.

Back to Arawakan words for "uncle". How much is it known about the language of the old Taino people of the Caribbean? : linguistics - I then tracked down the langs referred to.
 
October 2021:
AOC on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, the part of BBB that got passed.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Details matter. ..." / Twitter
Details matter.

A lot of people don’t know what the “bipartisan” bill consists of (despite text) and why it’s critical that Build Back Better be paired with it.

Take climate. There is a LOT of oil and gas lobbyist spin about BIF, but deal is it’s climate negative. One example:

People will say “oh look at all this money in climate - like hydrogen energy!”

Well, not all hydrogen is the same. The H sources matter. There are 3 kinds: blue, green, and grey.

Green hydrogen is the good stuff: that hydrogen comes from water and helps us draw down emissions.

You know where Blue hydrogen comes from? Fracked gas. Blue hydrogen has worse emissions than coal, locks in more powerful climate destruction than what we’re doing now.

Blue is bad. (Grey too)

Guess which one bipar bill finances? Blue. So we need to mitigate that BIF alone harm

Passing BIF w/o BBB makes our emissions & climate crisis worse. Sure, some BIF investments do good - but not enough, so it keeps us in the emissions red.

As someone who actually has to live in the future being debated for us: BBB gives us a fighting chance. BIF alone buries us.

Now for folks who say “you need to compromise”: to start, I do not support blue hydrogen. I am against expanding it.

The compromise is allowing blue hydrogen w/ the drawdown provisions in BBB. Passing blue hydrogen alone without guaranteed drawdowns is not a compromise.

So for those who like to call folks like me naïve, immature, or that “I don’t know what I’m doing”- some of us actually read the text while others get hustled by spin.

Details matter. On climate, they’re life+death. So to do my job, I need more than an IOU. Not too much to ask.

There are so, so many details like these linking BIF & BBB.

We can’t just say “oh there’s X million for this!” Does X million actually get it done or is it half a bridge?

How many times has leg been rushed just for people to be resentful at details later? Let’s do this right.
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I like her explanation of the hydrogen colors. There are more, like black and brown, made using black and brown coal, pink for nuclear, yellow for photovoltaic energy, white for natural hydrogen (rare), ...


The Recount on Twitter: "“I am proud to announce that, starting today, our company is now Meta.”
— CEO Mark Zuckerberg announces Facebook’s new name. (vid link)" / Twitter
then
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Meta as in “we are a cancer to democracy metastasizing into a global surveillance and propaganda machine for boosting authoritarian regimes and destroying civil society… for profit!”" / Twitter


Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Today was our 4th Annual Community Halloween event and I finally got out of my last-minute cat ears rut!
A little one did try to trick us out of some sweets though 👻🍬 (pix link))" / Twitter
AOC wore a Ghostbusters costume back in 2021, and in 2022, she showed up as a Sriracha bottle.
 
Everybody is getting committee assignments, and AOC is no exception.

Ranking Member Raskin Announces Democratic Members of the Committee | House Committee on Oversight and Reform - renamed Oversight and Accountability by the Republicans
Rep. Jamie Raskin is the ranking member, the highest-ranking minority-party member, and he announced
“I’m very excited to welcome these extraordinary new members of our Committee, whose remarkable experiences and gifts will soon be known to the whole country. They have come from all over America to fight for their communities. Now they join the Democrats on the Oversight and Accountability Committee—the ‘Truth Squad’—to conduct thorough and fact-based oversight to ensure an effective, efficient, and accountable American government that delivers for the American people.”
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Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Rep. Stephen F. Lynch, Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, Rep. Ro Khanna, Rep. Kweisi Mfume, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Katie Porter, Rep. Cori Bush, Rep. Shontel Brown, Rep. Jimmy Gomez, Rep. Melanie Stansbury, Rep. Robert Garcia, Rep. Maxwell Frost, Rep. Becca Balint, Rep. Summer Lee, Rep. Greg Casar, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, Rep. Dan Goldman, Rep. Jared Moskowitz

Much of the Progressive Squad is there, including some of its new members.

Ilhan Omar on Twitter: "Thank you for the wonderful dinner @ewarren. It was great to be in community with you all tonight. ❤️ (pic link)" / Twitter - Elizabeth Warren, the token Nordic. :D

Along with her in the picture, (2018) Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, (2020) Jamaal Bowman, Cori Bush, (2022) Maxwell Alejandro Frost, Jasmine Crockett, Summer Lee, Greg Casar, Delia Ramirez

Ilhan Omar on Twitter: "TW: death threat, profanity.
This is is one example of a death threat that came into my office this week.
These threats increase whenever Republicans put a target on my back.
They can continue to target me, but they will never stop me from fighting for a more just world. (vid link)" / Twitter
(Audio-only)
 
Earlier this week,
AOC in line to become her party's No. 2 on Oversight panel - POLITICO - "She’s expected to play a larger role — as high as vice ranking member — given her close relationship with top committee Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin."
In elevation to the vice ranking member position, while it’s not yet final, would give the well-known third-term progressive Democrat a high-profile perch to tangle with Republicans on a laundry list of controversial investigations they’re planning — on topics ranging from Hunter Biden’s business dealings to the southern border to GOP efforts to probe the “origins” of the coronavirus.

“There’s been conversations, but nothing’s been finalized,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a brief interview Friday when asked about her interest in the party’s No. 2 position on the panel, which is sparking open discussion among her fellow Democratic lawmakers.
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She will take his place if he has to be absent for treatment of his cancer.
“I have the greatest admiration for her skill, and I’m sure we’re going to be able to deploy her to maximum effect on the committee, along with all these other amazing new members,” Raskin said in an interview about her position on the committee, declining to directly address whether Ocasio-Cortez would become his No. 2.

...
“I think I’m going to have a lot of fun on this committee,” Ocasio-Cortez told reporters generally earlier Friday after her formal naming to the panel. “Of course, [Republicans are] going to be calling hearings on horrible things, but our job is to protect the people and protect the vulnerable communities that they seek to attack … it gives us an opportunity and a platform to de-legitimize a lot of the disinformation that they’ve been advancing.”
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Excited and humbled to share that this evening I was selected to serve as @RepRaskin’s #2 on the House Oversight Committee.
Thank you to my colleagues on @OversightDems for entrusting me with this responsibility. I’m thrilled to get to work with our incredible Oversight team!" / Twitter

Then it happened.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Excited and humbled to share that this evening I was selected to serve as @RepRaskin’s #2 on the House Oversight Committee.
Thank you to my colleagues on @OversightDems for entrusting me with this responsibility. I’m thrilled to get to work with our incredible Oversight team!" / Twitter

Maxwell Alejandro Frost on Twitter: "@AOC @RepRaskin @OversightDems Proud to serve on @OversightDems with you!! 🫡🫡🫡" / Twitter

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "@MaxwellFrostFL Likewise! Let’s do this🫡 You’re gonna be a pro in no time!" / Twitter
 
The Progressive Squad seems to be a very friendly bunch, unlike its counterparts on the Right. Lauren Boebert dislikes Marjorie Taylor Greene for believing in flaky conspiracy theories, and MTG in turn dislikes LB for voting against Kevin McCarthy despite KMC financing her re-election. MTG supported KMC the whole time and LB opposed him, finally letting him become Speaker by voting "Present".

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Instagram: “Committee Update (Finally!)”

About the committees she got onto. The Oversight Committee, yes, and a second committee. She has some seniority in the Financial Services Committee, but it is an exclusive committee, and that is a problem.

Rules Governing House Committee and
Subcommittee Assignment Procedures | Congressional Research Service

Exclusive committees: Appropriations, Energy and Commerce, Financial Services, Rules, Ways and Means

Non-exclusive committees: Agriculture, Armed Services, Budget, Education and Labor, Ethics, Foreign Affairs, Homeland Security, House Administration, Judiciary, Natural Resources, Oversight and Reform, Science, Space, and Technology, Small Business, Transportation and Infrastructure, Veterans’ Affairs

There is also a Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence - "select" meaning chosen by the House Speaker

Back in 2021, AOC tried to get into Energy and Commerce, but failed.

Back to her Instagram video. AOC noted that in the past, people would get waivers that enabled them to serve on other committees in addition to exclusive ones. So she got into both Oversight and Financial Services. But this time around, the rules are more strict about committee exclusivity, so if she joins FS again, she cannot serve in any other committee, not even Oversight. It was like choosing between two pets, she said. So she chose Oversight, and she chose a second committee, a non-exclusive one, Natural Resources, what Katie Porter had done last term when she could not get into FS.

NR has jurisdiction over Federal lands and national territories, like Puerto Rico, her ancestral homeland. Does that make her the Queen of Puerto Rico? :D
 
lpetrich said:
I like her explanation of the hydrogen colors. There are more, like black and brown, made using black and brown coal, pink for nuclear, yellow for photovoltaic energy, white for natural hydrogen (rare), ...
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Hydrogen is only green if the source of power to create it is green. From a practical standpoint that means it's only green if it's created with excess green power. (You run your water-splitting plant when the solar/wind/nuke is putting out more than the grid needs.) I do not believe this yet exists anywhere.
 
I remember when I first learned of AOC. She had a great platform, but she seemed to neglect labor unions. But she's more than made up for that deficiency.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Union busting is a sophisticated & lucrative business. It specializes in the psychology of getting you to doubt yourself and your peers. Don’t fall for it
Listen to these Starbucks workers explain their experiences since starting to unionize, including pressure from the top. ⬇️" / Twitter
noting
More Perfect Union on Twitter: "NEW: The workers organizing the first Starbucks union sat down with @AOC to expose the company’s unprecedented union-busting.
Former AFL-CIO Organizing Director Richard Bensinger says it’s the “most intense, most hostile, most vicious campaign” that he's seen in 46 years. (vid link))" / Twitter

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "You all bringing it down to the wire with a hunger strike and standing constantly + consistently with our drivers every day brought this victory home. Thank *you* ♥️🙏🏽" / Twitter
noting
Yuh-Line Niou on Twitter: "Biggest hug to @AOC . Her spotlight on the taxi drivers fight and her help with the congressional delegation was a huge part of this win. Thank you, friend. Grateful." / Twitter


Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Conservatives argue against raising wages ..." / Twitter
Conservatives argue against raising wages by claiming it’ll raise prices. But that isn’t reliably supported w historic data.

However, what we’re seeing now is perhaps an ex. of prices rising when wages/benefits are *too low*- not enough workers, hurts supply chain, prices hike.

When people drop out of the workforce, it’s a pretty complicated & expensive endeavor to get them back.

The reason is bc unlike physical supply chain issues where problems are a bit more straightforward (not saying easy, but more clear), labor supply issues can be more complex.

You can see this in the issue of wages. You will sometimes hear stories of a place claiming to have raised wages but still having trouble keeping people.

Well, when a pandemic devastated intergenerational families of workers and there’s no childcare, people can’t go back to work

I haven’t seen data yet if those anecdotes are indicative of a larger trend (& if so, how large), but the point still stands.

Like many working class Latino families,my grandma lived with us growing up and cared for me as my parents worked. Until she moved in, my mom stayed home

My family is one of essential workers: school bus drivers, postal workers, cleaners, etc

When childcare wasn’t available, my family couldn’t work - they stayed home.

When childcare isn’t universally available, it impacts the labor market. It can become a supply chain issue!

For people saying this is too out there, read this WSJ coverage.

Women, low income workers, people of color are disproportionately represented in those not re-entering the labor force.

There are reasons for that!
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Seems like an economics paradox. I think that a likely explanation is that at the low end, labor isn't much of a cost to many businesses, so they can easily survive paying such workers more.

Furthermore, making an issue out of that is what these people claim is a great economics fallacy: zero-sumism. So it alternates between being a fallacy and being a great truth depending on what they want to defend.
 
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