Photograph courtesy Corey Topie for the Ocasio-Cortez marketing campaign
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U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who represents components of the Bronx and Queens, has been named to the Home Power and Commerce Committee, a key legislative physique that wields important affect over the American financial system. She joins 5 different Democrats on this new appointment.
The 52-member committee oversees a variety of crucial points, together with meals and drug security, public well being, power coverage, telecommunications, shopper safety, and interstate and international commerce. It additionally screens main authorities businesses such because the Meals and Drug Administration, Division of Power, and Federal Commerce Fee.
In an announcement launched on Jan. 7, Ocasio-Cortez highlighted the committee’s potential to advance transformative insurance policies. The committee, she stated, “has the power to guarantee health care as a human right to all Americans, fight the global crisis of climate change, and make life easier for the working class.”
Ocasio-Cortez, a vocal advocate for clear power and common well being care, has sought a place on the committee since 2020. On the time, her bid was unsuccessful, with then-Rep. Kathleen Rice, a extra centrist New York Democrat, securing the spot.
Her current appointment comes after dropping her December bid to function the highest Democrat on the Home Oversight Committee. Regardless of that setback, political commentators have described her placement on the Power and Commerce Committee as “huge” and ““a pretty darn good consolation prize.”
Ocasio-Cortez expressed her readiness to sort out the highway forward, stating, “The next few years are sure to be challenging, but Democrats must maintain our commitment to fighting for working people, not billionaires. That work goes directly through the Energy and Commerce Committee, and I can’t wait to get to work.”
