AOC scolds both Sinema, Biden in call for 'brass tacks' approach to progressive agenda

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AOC: Biden was 'mistaken' to think his relationships with Manchin, Sinema would help his agenda

Progressive congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez argues Biden should have come out 'stronger earlier' on Build Back Better, other policy items

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., continued her sharp criticism of Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., on MSNBC Wednesday, again accusing the moderate Democrat of being an "obstacle" to her and her colleagues' progressive agenda.

Ocasio-Cortez is one of several progressive Democrats to target Sinema and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., for not getting in line with items like the Build Back Better bill, the scrapping of the filibuster, and more. Ocasio-Cortez fit several accusations into her latest diatribe against Sinema, including how the latter is an "obstacle to the right to vote," and forgetting the will of Arizona voters.

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"She has proven herself an obstacle to the right to vote in the United States," she said on "The 11th Hour." "She is not an ally on civil rights. It is becoming a precipice and rather contributing to the threat that we have in stabilizing our democracy. She is not standing up to corporate interests; in fact, she is a profound ally to them. And I believe that, you know, she is not doing what voters in Arizona sent her to do."

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema listens during a news conference in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington on July 28, 2021. (Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Ocasio-Cortez also found President Biden guilty in the slow walking of progressive priorities, accusing him of "dragging his feet" on the filibuster. She also hit Biden for believing the relationships he'd cultivated with Sinema and Manchin would help get them on board, which she called naive.

"I believe that the president was genuine and authentic in his assessment in believing that his decades in the United States Senate and his relationships would be able to bring Manchin and perhaps Sinema along … He was mistaken in that assessment," she said.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez outside the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 21, 2021. (Reuters/Elizabeth Frantz)

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"I think we need to play hard ball," she said. "I think we need to go brass tacks," later adding that "he should have gone stronger earlier."

Ocasio-Cortez launched attacks at Manchin in the same conversation.

"The issue we have is that everyday Joe Manchin wakes up, he has a different demand, and he wants to start over from scratch every single day," she said. "That is a quite difficult position to work with … He’s been given everything that he wants."

Ocasio-Cortez has publicly denounced Sinema on numerous occasions, including after the Arizona senator penned a Washington Post op-ed arguing in favor of maintaining the filibuster. Progressives are on a mission to abolish it because it requires 60 votes to stop debate and advance most bills for a vote. Striking the Senate rule, Sinema argued, would lead to "deepening divisions and further eroding Americans’ confidence in our government."

Ocasio-Cortez told NBC's "Meet the Press" that Sinema’s comments were "essentially an argument of saying, ‘Well why do anything at all, in case something in the future may change it.’"

President Biden failed to convince Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema to eliminate or weaken the filibuster. (AP/Getty Images)

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Progressives in Congress and in the media are once again targeting Manchin and Sinema following the leaked announcement of Justice Stephen Breyer's retirement on Wednesday. "Biden can't let Sinema and Manchin short-circuit his Supreme Court nomination," a CNN opinion headline said Wednesday.