Former Secretary of State John Kerry defended freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday for offering “more leadership in one day or one week than President Trump has in his lifetime” on climate change.
{mosads}The House Oversight and Reform Committee meeting where Kerry testified was meant to address the intersection of climate change and national security, but several Republicans on the committee used their opening remarks to critique Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-N.Y.) Green New Deal plan to tackle climate change.
Kerry also criticized Republicans for a failure to offer up a proposal of their own.
“There are a lot of proposals, but none of them are coming from your party or your side of the aisle,” Kerry told Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), who had pushed Kerry to explain how the nation would pay for the Green New Deal.
Kerry came under a fair amount of criticism himself, with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) calling Kerry a “pseudo scientist” in reference to his political science degree.
“Mr. Chairman, this is just not a serious conversation,” Kerry said in response to the exchange.
Ocasio-Cortez responded on Twitter, saying she was “honored and humbled” by Kerry’s remark.
–Updated 12:41 p.m.