Ocasio-Cortez fires back at Vance over ‘pro-family’ policies

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Monday fired back at Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) after the GOP vice presidential candidate defended his previous attacks on Democrats for being “antifamily.”

Vance, during appearances on three Sunday morning political shows, was asked about his past criticism. He defended the comments and threw out policy proposals, including expanding the child tax credit and barring surprise medical bills.

“I’m pro-family,” he told CNN. “I want us to have more families. And obviously sometimes it doesn’t work out, sometimes for medical reasons, sometimes because you don’t meet the right person. But the point is that our country has become antifamily in its public policy.”

Ocasio-Cortez responded with a list of pro-family policies Democrats have proposed, including raising the minimum wage, offering paid parental leave and expanding health care access.

“If Vance is so fixated on who has kids, he must support pro-family policies, right?” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on the social platform X.

She added, “Oh right, he doesn’t. He just wants an excuse to surveil & subjugate women.”

Ocasio-Cortez was among the original targets of Vance’s 2021 “childless cat lady” remarks, and Vance that same year said the New York Democrat had a “sociopathic attitude towards families.”

Vance has made family policy a key talking point of his vice presidential campaign, though Democrats have swiftly pushed back, citing GOP positions on major pro-family policies.

Democratic attacks on Vance over family policy ignited again last week when he voted against an expansion of the child tax credit. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) seized on the controversy surrounding Vance’s remarks last week by bringing up the measure for a vote, despite slim odds that it would pass.

“Senate Republicans love to talk about how they are the party of family and business. So it’s very odd to see them come out so aggressively against expanding the child tax credit and rewarding business with the [research and development] tax credit,” Schumer said on the floor of the Senate.