AOC Claps Back at Republican Blaming Democrats for House Upheaval: ‘Your Party Is a Chaos Factory’

C-SPAN

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) had some pointed remarks for Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) on Friday night after he blamed Democrats for Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) ouster from the speakership this week.

McCarthy was removed from his post after Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) filed a motion to vacate the chair. The Florida lawmaker claimed the speaker had breached the terms of an agreement they made in January whereby Gaetz dropped his opposition to McCarthy’s bid for the speakership. Gaetz was also irked by an agreement McCarthy hammered out to avoid a government shutdown last weekend. More Democrats voted for the measure than Republicans.

Eight Republicans joined 208 Democrats in voting to oust McCarthy, 216 to 210 on Tuesday. Some Republicans, including Lawler, have cast blame on Democrats. The House will vote on a new speaker next week.

On Friday, Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY) called on a handful of unnamed Republicans to join Democrats in a governing coalition of sorts.

“We need patriots to rise above the partisanship – five or more Republicans to unify with our coalition,” he tweeted.

That drew the attention of Lawler, who responded, “Patriots? You voted with Matt Gaetz to burn the house down. Just stop.”

The missive did not sit well with Ocasio-Cortez.

“Stop trying to make fetch happen,” she tweeted, making a Mean Girls reference. “It’s not going to happen. Take some personal responsibility for the fact that your party is a chaos factory. You asked for a GOP majority, and this is what we get with one. If you want Dems to bail you out so badly, try talking. Line’s open!”