Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to visit Kentucky despite Republican colleague rescinding his invitation for her to visit the state
Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is not one to sit and take no for an answer and she has proved it multiple times over.
Now she is taking a "no" presented to her in the same stride and planning a visit to the state of Kentucky. According to Ocasio-Cortez's spokesperson Corbin Trent who spoke to CNN, the New York congresswoman claims that she has received other invitations to visit the state even though the initial invitation put forth by Republican Rep. Andy Barr of Kentucky has been rescinded.
In an impassioned hearing of the House Financial Services Committee last month, Barr had invited the New Yorker to his home state to see the impact her popular Green New Deal proposal would have on coal miners there.
"I want to invite the gentlelady to come to eastern Kentucky where thousands of coal miners no longer have paychecks. I invite her to go underground with me and meet the men and women who do heroic work to power the American economy," he said.
AOC readily accepted the invitation with a resounding "I'd be happy to," further explaining that her proposal intends on "fully funding the pensions of coal miners in West Virginia and throughout Appalachia because we want a just transition to make sure that we're investing in jobs across those swaths of the country."
However, it seems like the Republican is no longer interested in hosting the Democratic congresswoman, claiming she needs to first apologize to fellow GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas before making any Kentucky trip.
The battle between Ocasio-Cortez and Crenshaw started brewing after the former defended her close ally in the Congress, Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, and called Crenshaw out for refusing to co-sponsor the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund, further asking him to "do something" about domestic terrorism.
This invited quite a bit of criticism from Republicans, who were quick to remind the New Yorker that Crenshaw is a NAVY seal who served three tours in Afghanistan and lost his eye during his time of service.
Barr is among the people who believe that AOC's comments lacked civility. “Your recent comments about Congressman Crenshaw demonstrate a lack of civility that is becoming far too common in the U.S. House of Representatives,” wrote Barr in a letter to the Bronx politician.
However, the democratic leader does not believe she owes Crenshaw an apology. In fact, her spokeswoman said, "We definitely think there is an apology in order, but we think it is from Crenshaw to Congresswoman Omar."
"Luckily, we still have open borders with Kentucky, we are free to travel there," Trent said, adding, "We hope to visit and have a town hall, listen to concerns of workers in Kentucky." She also claimed that AOC has been invited by other Kentuckians and that she is planning a visit to the state soon, even though a specific date has not been confirmed.