Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Thursday took a swipe at a Biden adviser who said government spending may be “limited” due to deficits run up during the Trump administration, with the progressive firebrand calling for “massive” government spending.
Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., was responding to comments made by a Biden adviser, former Sen. Ted Kaufman, D-Del., who is expected to lead a potential Biden transition team.
Ocasio-Cortez blasted the comments on Twitter, saying: “This is extremely concerning.” “The pantry is absolutely not bare,” she said. “We need massive investment in our country or it will fall apart. This is not a joke.
“To adopt GOP deficit-hawking now, when millions of lives are at stake, is utterly irresponsible,” she continued.
She added: “Hold the line. Win. Lead.”
Ocasio-Cortez’s comments come after Kaufman’s interview with Wall Street Journal Newsmakers Live on Tuesday, where he suggested a large increase in federal spending would be difficult in 2021.
“When we get in, the pantry is going to be bare,” Kaufman told the Wall Street Journal. “When you see what Trump’s done to the deficit … forget about COVID-19, all of the deficits that he built with the incredible tax cuts.”
He added: “So we’re going to be limited.”
The U.S. budget deficit soared to a record $2.7 trillion for the first nine months of the fiscal year, as federal revenues dried up and spending surged to help offset the economic pain of the coronavirus pandemic.
The deficit is on track to exceed $3.8 trillion, a record-shattering number that dwarfs the previous high of $1.41 trillion set in 2009 during the global financial crisis.
“That increase stems from the economic disruption caused by the 2020 coronavirus pandemic and from the federal government’s response to it,” the Congressional Budget Office said last month.
