Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s deputy campaign manager vowed that leftists would not be “disappointed” in a Biden administration’s “aggressive” agenda.
During an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Kate Bedingfield said Biden intends to “make good” on his commitments to pursue progressive policies.
When asked about the current schism in the Democratic Party between leftists and moderates, Bedingfield said neither side should be worried.
And when asked specifically about what Rep. Alexandria Ocasio–Cortez, D-N.Y., might think about Biden’s policies, Bedingfield pointed to Biden’s climate-change plan.
Although Biden denied doing so during the presidential debates, he has been accused of plagiarizing parts of his so-called Biden Plan from the Green New Deal framework drafted by the freshman congresswoman, which the Senate ultimately rejected.
“I think that Vice President Biden campaigned on an incredibly progressive and aggressive agenda,” Bedingfield said.
“He’s going to make good on those commitments,” she continued. “I mean we, you know, he spent time during this campaign bringing people together around this climate plan. He was able to get the endorsement of groups like the Sunrise Movement and the endorsement of [organized] labor [unions] for this plan.”
Ocasio-Cortez criticized the Biden campaign and several other moderate Democrats last week by suggesting that many vow to pursue bold, progressive policies, but abandon that strategy after winning.
She also hit back at moderates who have criticized her approach and have suggested her left-wing faction is to blame for the Democratic Party’s congressional losses last week.
“When we kind of come out swinging not 48 hours after Tuesday, when we don’t even have solid data yet, pointing fingers and telling each other what to do, it deepens the division in the party, and it’s irresponsible,” she said. “It’s irresponsible to pour gasoline on these already very delicate tensions in the party.”
Several congressional Democrats are frustrated with Ocasio–Cortez and other leftist members who endorsed radical policies like ‘Medicare for All,’ the Green New Deal, and ‘Defund the Police.’
It was this agenda that cost many moderate Democrats their seats last Tuesday, according to House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C.
