She can talk the talk, but can she walk the walk? She seems to think so.
With a little over a month away until she takes office, the newly-elected New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has announced she will be paying her interns $15 per hour in an effort to “walk the walk.”
“Time to walk the walk,” the newly-minted congresswoman said on Twitter. “Very few members of Congress actually pay their interns. We will be one of them.”
The self-proclaimed Democratic-Socialist has called on other lawmakers in Congress to pay their staffers more. Most interns go unpaid in the nation’s capital; unsurprisingly, more Republicans currently offer paid internships than Democrats. Fox Business has more:
A 2017 study by an advocacy group called Pay Our Interns found that 51 percent of Senate Republicans offered paid internships, compared with 31 percent of Democrats.
Meanwhile, young staffers in the House of Representatives had dismal pay prospects: Only 8 percent of Republicans – or 19 of 238 – paid interns, while 3.6 percent of Democrats, or 7 of 193, did so.
The study also concluded that internships in D.C. cost $6,000, on average.
A recent list of top lawmakers who offer young staffers zero pay includes such progressive heroes like California Sen. Kamala Harris, Virginia Democrat Mark Warner and New York Democrat Chuck Schumer.
“Sen. Mark Warner’s office told FOX Business it is offering paid internships, which are available to certain applicants with ‘demonstrated financial need,” reports the outlet. “Compensation rates are $13.25 per hour. A spokesperson for Sen. Schumer told FOX Business that, as of January, the office will offer ‘eligible interns’ a stipend.”
At least Ocasio-Cortez can boast of some level of ideological consistency, however ridiculous the ideology happens to be at the moment. The same can be said for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who also pays his interns $15 per hour. California Rep. Ro Khanna announced on Twitter Wednesday that he will do the same.
Soon, Democrats may have one of those send-them-to-Gimbels/send-them-to-Macy’s moment on their hands just in time for Christmas.
On the flip side, the list also indicated that Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz currently do not offer paid internships at the moment. However, a spokesperson for Ted Cruz disputed that with Fox Business.
“A spokesperson for Sen. Cruz told FOX Business that he is paying his interns, though declined to say how much or whether all interns are included,” reports the outlet. “Spokespersons for Sens. Harris and Rubio did not return FOX Business’ request for comment.”
Though she “walks the walk,” the Democratic-Socialist from New York still knows little about basic math or facts in general. Most recently, fact-checkers from across the political spectrum unilaterally blasted her for bogusly claiming that 66% of Medicare For All could have been paid by the wasted $21 trillion spent by the Pentagon.
“$21 TRILLION of Pentagon financial transactions ‘could not be traced, documented, or explained.’ $21T in Pentagon accounting errors,” she tweeted on Sunday. “Medicare for All costs ~$32T. That means 66% of Medicare for All could have been funded already by the Pentagon.”