Senator Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) is now firing back against Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) for making some “totally false” claims about him where she asserted that her fellow West Virginia senator is interested in division, not unity.

What Did AOC Say?

In response to an essay that Manchin wrote for the Wall Street Journal where he expounded upon the reasons for his opposition against President Joe Biden’s $3.5 trillion spending bill, Ocasio-Cortez attempted to portray Manchin as taking his legislative cues from lobbyists.

“Manchin has weekly huddles w/ Exxon & is one of many senators who gives lobbyists their pen to write so-called ‘bipartisan’ fossil fuel bills. It’s killing people. Our people. At least 12 last night,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Sept. 2. “Sick of this ‘bipartisan’ corruption that masquerades as clear-eyed moderation.”

“Fossil fuel corps & dark money is destroying our democracy, country, & planet,” she added. “All day our community has been pulling bodies out of homes from the flood. Entire families. And we’re supposed to entertain lobbyist talking points about why we should abandon people & do nothing? No.”

True to form, however, Ocasio-Cortez yet again didn’t offer that much evidence regarding her allegations.

Manchin’s Response

Senator Manchin spoke on CNN’s “State of the Union” and he described Ocasio-Cortez’s allegations as “totally false.”

“Absolutely not. Absolutely not,” Manchin said when asked if he has been “huddling” with Exxon executives. “I keep my door open for everybody. That’s totally false.”

Manchin has become known as the Senate’s most moderate Democrat, and he added that he thinks that Ocasio-Cortez’s rhetoric is “awful” and she is only trying to sow as much division as possible.

“Those types of superlatives, it’s just awful. Continue to divide, divide, divide,” Manchin said. “I don’t know that young lady that well. I really don’t. I have met her one time, I think, between sets here. But that’s it. So we have not had any conversations. She’s just speculating and saying things because she wants to.”

After host Dana Bash told Manchin that the reason he has detractors is because “there are a number of your fellow Democrats who say that you’re bought and paid for by corporate donors,” Manchin nipped it in the bud.
“I’m opposed to it because it makes no sense at all,” Manchin said.

“You’re just not entitled to create your own facts to support it. And that’s exactly what they’re doing.”

AOC’s Response:

Although Ocasio-Cortez did not immediately respond to the exact substance of the message, she did seize on the fact that Manchin referred to her as a “young lady.”

“In Washington, I usually know my questions of power are getting somewhere when the powerful stop referring to me as ‘Congresswoman’ and start referring to me as ‘young lady’ instead,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

“Imagine if every time someone referred to someone as ‘young lady’ they were ask responded to by being addressed with their age and gender? They’d be pretty upset if one responded with ‘the old man,’ right?” she continued. “Why this kind of weird, patronizing behavior is so accepted is beyond me!”

Anything else?

This comes on the heels of Democratic lawmakers increasingly voicing their frustration with the moderal lawmaker over his persistent refusal to support their massive spending bill, which is seeking to advance many of Biden’s big government policy changes.

Part of the reason for all of this pushback is because Democrats want to pass this bill by using the budget reconciliation process so that they can pass it without GOP support. However, if they are going to do that, they will need Manchin’s support. The Senate is split 50-50 and they will fail in passing the bill if they cannot convince Manchin to come over to their side.