US Democrat congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has proceeded to criticise lawmakers who opposed the recent measures aimed at increasing direct coronavirus relief payments to Americans, from $600 to $2,000.
In one of her 29 December tweets, AOC called out Republican congressmen who "like to claim they are the party of 'personal responsibility'", for their apparent refusal to "take any responsibility themselves for blocking retroactive unemployment benefits" and for "voting against $2k survival checks".
She also went on to slam Republican Representative for Texas's Eighth District, Kevin Brady, over his opposition to relief payments because of concerns that "it would go toward people paying down credit card debt or making 'new purchases online at Wal-Mart, Best Buy or Amazon'", as HuffPost's Matt Fuller put it.
And her criticism was not limited to Republicans, as AOC reacted to a tweet by Bloomberg congressional reporter Erik Wasson who pointed out that Democrat Representative for Oregon's Fifth District, Kurt Schrader, opposed the payments bill reportedly saying "People who are making six-figure incomes and who have not been impacted by Covid-19 do not need checks."
"If you’re going to err, err on the side of helping people", Ocasio-Cortez argued, inquiring whether Schrader provided "a good reason to block aid for millions".
On Monday 28 December, US Congress voted to approve a new measure that would significantly increase the dollar amount of federal direct payments the US government previously approved for Americans struggling to make ends meet amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.