At a recent hearing of the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) criticized the overly politicized approaches taken by Republicans including other members of the panel like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) and Lauren Boebert (Colo.) while what the New York Congresswoman noted were very real issues remained pressing around the United States.
The hearing featured as a witness the current leader of the White House Office of Personnel Management, which as its name suggests deals with hiring policy for roles in the federal government. Elsewhere in the proceedings, Republican questions focused on issues like the supposedly looming threat of government staff using telework opportunities for what should be deemed vacation days and action taken to factor participation in something like the Capitol riot against a prospective federal employee. In response to the latter questions, which were from Greene, personnel office leader Kiran Ahuja noted how those handling these matters take holistic approaches to evaluating individual candidates, debunking any notion there is some kind of intentional conspiracy.
“We’re having a hearing right now, and it’s about what?” Ocasio-Cortez rhetorically asked fellow members. “That the federal government is too woke? I mean, that’s seriously what we’re hearing? And then there’s no definition of what ‘woke’ is, but on paper, what’s actually being criticized in this hearing is that the so-called ‘woke’ policies are remote work for federal workers, especially those that live in rural areas and those who have disabilities, paying interns so that critical opportunities don’t just go to privileged kids whose parents can afford to pay for their rent while they go on a free internship. That is what is ‘woke’ here. That is what the other side is calling ‘woke’ here. Making sure that OPM can create opportunities and federal careers for partners of military service members.”
“What I can’t help but communicate that I find frustrating is that there are actual crises happening in this country,” the Congresswoman added. “A couple of weeks ago, there was a devastating, devastating derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.”
She then discussed having actually met with some from the area of that derailment, a gathering she explained wasn’t planned, and Ocasio-Cortez added sharp criticism for a lack of sustained focus from the GOP majority on the actual substance of the crisis. Republicans on the oversight panel produced a letter asking for evidentiary materials — and targeting Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, whose department was among those swiftly responding to the scene and who obviously wasn’t somehow responsible for the original wreck. And yet, the GOP signatories focused so intently on their political opponents they got the basic facts wrong, including materials from the National Transportation Safety Board in their requests to Buttigieg though that’s not under his authority!
Check out Ocasio-Cortez’s commentary below:
