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Former Fox News star-turned-conservative talk radio host Megyn Kelly blasted progressive Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for advocating for student loan forgiveness, declaring that she does not want to pay for the college education of ‘snot-nosed’ kids.
Kelly weighed in on the hot-button issue Monday while interviewing the hosts of the popular right-wing podcast Ruthless on her daily SiriusXM program, The Megyn Kelly Show.
Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat representing parts Queens, New York, has been urging President Joe Biden to use executive action to cancel federal student loan debt for everyone.
After Biden failed to address the issue of loan forgiveness in his State of the Union address last month, Ocasio-Cortez urged borrowers to ‘keep bullying the White House’ to wipe clean a large portion of the national $1.7 trillion student debt.
The strategy seems to have worked. On Tuesday, Biden announced he is extending the federal moratorium on student loan repayments until August 31.
In Kelly’s takedown of the second-term congresswoman, she called Ocasio-Cortez a ‘one-trick pony’ who is willing to offer handouts to Americans as part of a strategy to save Democrats from a ‘bloodbath’ during the midterm elections in November.
Megyn Kelly hit out at Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive Democrat from New York, for supporting student loan forgiveness on her SiriusXM show on Monday
Ocasio-Cortez is a sponsor of the Student Debt Cancellation Act, which would forgive outstanding federal and private for all borrowers
Kelly then asked her guests whether they had someone pay for their college education.
Ruthless co-host Comfortably Smug recounted how he worked as a bouncer at a college dive bar in New York City to cover his tuition at a state school, which he said was within his budget.
‘Everyone else in this country has always figured out a way to budget for their education, and again, it’s progressivism masquerading as compassion,’ the conservative podcaster argued. ‘It’s a handout to the wealthiest, liberal, coastal… it’s like the liberal coastal elite embodied.’
Kelly, 51, then shared with her guests and listeners how, after her father died of a heart attack at age 45, her mother used his entire life insurance policy to pay for her children’s college education.
‘We weren’t rich to begin with,’ said Kelly, who famously walked away from her NBC contract with a $69million settlement after being ousted for defending blackface on air. ‘So it’s not like he had some big fat life insurance policy.’
Speaking of her later father, Edward Kelly, who taught at the State University of New York at Albany until his death in 1985, Megyn said: ‘he had, like, the bare minimum [life insurance] for when you’re in your 40’s and a professor.’
Kelly said she and her two older siblings were forced to take out loans on top of the life insurance money to pay for their schooling.
Kelly weighed in on the hot-button issue of student loan while interviewing the hosts of the popular right-wing podcast Ruthless
Kelly earned an undergraduate degree in political science from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 1992, followed by a law degree from Albany Law School in 1995.
‘So, do I think now that I would’ve been better if the federal government had stepped it?’ she wondered. ‘It would’ve been nice but I don’t think the neighbors should have to pay for my college education.’
The former Fox News star went on to argue that the ‘snot-nosed kids today’ can take out loans to attend top schools like Columbia University.
‘There people are going to be…elite graduates who are going to spend their years in journalism trying to shame half of America for doing absolutely nothing wrong,’ she fulminated. ‘Why should I be paying for their education? I don’t want to!’
She isn’t part of OUR Squad! Amazon union leader slams AOC for ‘abandoning’ them and says she ‘doesn’t deserve this moment’ after she celebrated Staten Island warehouse voting to unionize
As the president of the Amazon Labor Union celebrated victory for unionizing a Staten Island warehouse, he tore into Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for backing out at the last minute from attending a pro-labor rally and slow-walking her support for the movement.
‘Any message for AOC specifically?’ news outlet Status Coup asked Chris Smalls, the organizer behind the successful unionization of the first Amazon warehouse in the country. ‘Hell no, I’m not giving her no… she don’t deserve this moment,’ he said.
Amazon has for decades deployed aggressive tactics to bust unionization efforts, and with very little funding, the effort by Smalls and his team to unionize was a longshot. But with the political and economic winds in their favor – a tight labor market and a pro-union National Labor Relations board under President Biden, employees at the fulfillment center known as JFK 8 voted in support of the Amazon Labor Union.
ALU President Chris Smallstore into Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for backing out at the last minute from attending a pro-labor rally and slow-walking her support for the movement
Amazon Labor Union (ALU) organizer Christian Smalls speaks to the media as ALU members celebrate official victory after hearing results regarding the vote to unionize, outside the NLRB offices in Brooklyn, New York City, U.S., April 1
Last summer, Smalls said he went down to Washington, D.C. when Squad members were sleeping on the Capitol steps to protest the end of the eviction pause. He was trying to court their attendance at a pro-union rally at the Staten Island warehouse in August.
Smalls said he personally invited New York progressives like AOC and Mondaire Jones. ‘They were positive when I met them in person,’ he said on the Krystal Kyle & Friends Podcast. ‘I met Cori Bush on the steps. I brought them ALU shirts. We tried to convince them to come up there. AOC was like ‘yeah, take my information.’
Smalls said he had three meetings with members of her staff. ‘Leading up to the rally everything was good up until the last second. They were like ‘yeah, they can’t make it.’ I was like wow.’
‘They didn’t give me a real reason besides there is a security threat for AOC and I’m like, I was just sleeping on the steps with her in DC, she had no security there. Had maybe one person there. It didn’t make sense because they said they canceled all her in person meetings for the rest of the month then she at the Met Gala.’
Last Thursday when the unionizing vote was announced, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted muscle-flexing emojis in support, drawing criticism from Krystal Ball, co-host of the Krystal Kyle and Friends and Breaking Points podcasts, and progressive journalist Jordan Chariton.
‘These are your constituents and you couldn’t be bothered to show up until they’re on the cusp of victory,’ Ball wrote on Twitter.
‘The warehouse isn’t in my district and maybe you should look at a map before claiming so. One scheduling conflict aside, we have requested oversight investigations into Amazon, met with Amazon workers in the Woodside warehouses, and more. Hope you do more due diligence next time,’ Ocasio-Cortez shot back.
Smalls fired back at the congresswoman: ‘Smh @AOC that’s terrible workers from your district definitely commute to Staten Island I know them personally maybe you should do your do diligence.’
Chariton jumped in: ‘I was told by workers that your folks told them at last minute it was a security issue–not a scheduling conflict. Whether ur district or not, you would think a NY Congressman could’ve tweeted support–particularly in final weeks–for one of the most important union drives in U.S.’
JFK8 in Staten Island is the first Amazon warehouse ever to successfully unionize
‘Security was an issue as well. 2021 included a lot of high level threats on my life, which limited what activities I was able to do, especially those outside. The combination of that + when we are able to get resources/time to secure them creates scheduling + logistical conflicts,’ Ocasio-Cortez said.
‘With respect, there’s no security concerns with sending out support to @amazonlabor trying to win the first unionized Amazon to 13 million followers. Your voice and organizing power makes a difference,’ said Chariton.
‘No security concerns at the met gala,’ Ball added with a puzzled emoji.
Smalls said that he had also been blown off by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. ‘I was talking with Bernie’s people as well, they’re like ‘oh, were going to bring you to Congress to testify, it never happened.’
The JFK8 Amazon facility voted 2,654 to 2,131 in favor of unionizing. The number of employees eligible to participate in the vote was 8,325, the NLRB said at the conclusion of the count.’
The center is now poised to become the first and only Amazon warehouse among the 110 in the states to unionize.
The company employs roughly 1.3 million workers across the country, and is on pace to surpass Walmart as the largest private employer in the U.S. within a year or two.
A victory for organized labor at the second-largest U.S. private employer is a historic first for the retailing behemoth in the United States and a milestone for labor advocates, who for years have considered Amazon’s labor practices a threat to workers.
Smalls was a manager at the Staten Island facility until he was fired in 2020 for breaking social distancing rules by attending a walkout he helped organize over unsafe working conditions at the height of the pandemic.
Amazon launched Smalls into the spotlight after its chief counsel accidentally sent an email to more than 1,000 people describing Smalls as ‘not smart, or articulate,’ and recommended making him ‘the face’ of efforts to organize workers.
‘Amazon wanted to make me the face of the whole unionizing efforts against them,’ Smalls wrote in a tweet on Friday.’Welp there you go!’
Smalls along with his friend from the warehouse Derrick Palmer spent the past 11 months spreading awareness of their unionization efforts, bringing homemade baked ziti, empanadas and West African rice dishes to the bus stop outside the warehouse to appeal to workers, many of them from different backgrounds.
They had no affiliation with any national labor organization and while they spent around $120,000 on their efforts, Amazon spent about $4.3 million on anti-union consultants last year across the nation, the New York Times reported.
The successful unionization vote comes on the heels of a string of Starbucks stores that have voted to organize too.
On Friday the House Oversight panel, led by Reps. Carolyn Maloney, N.Y., Ocasio-Cortez and Cori Bush, Mo. opened a federal probe into Amazon’s labor practices. They wrote a letter to Amazon requesting documents on the company’s labor policies and procedures, especially during extreme weather events. A tornado last year killed six workers in Edwardsville, Illinois and workers in the aftermath said that they had been told by supervisors they would be fired if they left their shifts early to find shelter.
Ocasio-Cortez is a sponsor of the Student Debt Cancellation Act, which would forgive outstanding federal and private for all borrowers, both past and present.
On Tuesday, she tweeted in response to an announcement that the White House plans to extend the pandemic pause on student loan repayments through August 31: ‘I think some folks read these extensions as savvy politics, but I don’t think those folks understand the panic and disorder it causes people to get so close to these deadlines just to extend the uncertainty. It doesn’t have the affect people think it does. We should cancel them.’
Roughly 43 million federal student loan borrowers have not been required to make payments for more than two years, since the CARES Act was first signed into law under Donald Trump.
Interest rates on student loans held by the government will also remain at zero.
It was due to end on May 1, but officials are seeking to give Americans a few more months of relief as the economy continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and while the cost of consumer goods continue to climb to record highs.
Kelly was not the only one who has upbraided Ocasio-Cortez in recent days.
Chris Smalls, the organizer behind the successful unionization of the first Amazon warehouse in the country publicly called out the congresswoman for backing out at the last minute from attending a pro-labor rally in August.
As he celebrated victory for unionizing a Staten Island warehouse, Smalls said that Ocasio-Cortez ‘doesn’t deserve this moment.’
Biden planning to EXTEND the pause on student loan repayments until August as the Squad ups calls for debt to be completely eradicated
President Joe Biden is extending the federal moratorium on student loan repayments until August 31, it was reported on Tuesday, as progressives continue to put pressure on the White House to cancel college debt altogether.
Roughly 43 million federal student loan borrowers have not been required to make payments for more than two years, since the CARES Act was first signed into law under Donald Trump.
Interest rates on student loans held by the government will also remain at zero.
It was due to end on May 1, but officials are seeking to give Americans a few more months of relief as the economy continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and while the cost of consumer goods continue to climb to record highs.
The Biden administration previously extended the moratorium for 90 days in late December amid the Omicron virus wave.
The new extension is set to be announced on Wednesday, Politico first reported.
The borrowers affected by the moratorium owe a combined $1.6 trillion in debt held by the US government, according to the latest data from the Education Department.
But members of House Democrats’ progressive ‘Squad’ believe it does not go far enough to help.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) criticized the extension as just prolonging the uncertainty felt by people with thousands of dollars of student debt.
‘I think some folks read these extensions as savvy politics, but I don’t think those folks understand the panic and disorder it causes people to get so close to these deadlines just to extend the uncertainty,’ the Democrat firebrand said on Twitter Tuesday.
‘It doesn’t have the affect(sp) people think it does. We should cancel them.’
Progressive Squad members Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (left) and Ayanna Pressley (right) have been among the most prominent voices in Congress pushing for Biden to cancel federal student loan debt
She added, ‘I’ve had so many people asking me “My payments are $X hundred / thousand a month. What do you think is going to happen in May? I need to make sure I delay X medical procedure or prescription / sell my car / make X huge change to prepare.” The limbo & uncertainty is also a strain.’
Her fellow New Yorker, Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), pointed out that Biden promised to reduce student loan debt during his 2020 presidential campaign.
Bowman wrote to Biden on Twitter: ‘You made a promise to the American people and it’s time for you to follow through. Cancel student loans and help us unlock a better and brighter future for over 45 million people in this country.’
During his time in office so far, the president authorized program expansions that led to significant student loan relief for more than 700,000 people, with a value of at least $17 billion.
However many left-wing voters, particularly young progressives who were at first skeptical of Biden’s campaign, felt the president has since fallen short of delivering on his aim to forgive up to $10,000 in student debt per borrower.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) called on Biden to cancel student debt ‘& bring transformative relief to millions—especially Black women’ in a Tuesday afternoon tweet.
‘Black women are the most educated group in our country, but also the most burdened by student debt,’ Pressley wrote.
Ocasio-Cortez claimed the president’s student loan extension actually harms borrowers by extending their period of uncertainty
Her fellow New York lawmaker, Rep. Jamaal Bowman, pointed out that Biden promised to cancel up to $10,000 in student debt per borrower while on the 2020 campaign trail
Pressley also chimed in on Tuesday, highlighting the impact that student loan payment moratoriums have on black women
Aside from the Squad, Biden’s reported debt relief extension falls short of dozens of Democrat lawmakers’ expectations.
Nearly 100 members of Congress within the president’s own party signed onto a letter last week urging the White House to extend the moratorium ‘until at least the end of the year and to provide meaningful student debt cancellation.’
The effort was led by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).
‘Canceling student debt is one of the most powerful ways to address racial and economic equity issues. The student loan system mirrors many of the inequalities that plague American society and widens the racial wealth gap,’ the lawmakers wrote.
‘Student debt cancellation must be one of the key actions in your comprehensive approach to advance equity as our nation works to rebuild a stronger and more equitable economy.’
Nearly 8 million jobs have been created under Biden’s presidency so far, signaling a strong recovery from the pandemic’s economic downturn.
However, the rebound has also sent consumer prices through the roof — with inflation rising 7.9 percent in February from the same time last year, according to the most recently available Labor Department data. The figure is a 40-year high.
Warren, Schumer and Pressley released a recent analysis showing that resuming federal student loan payments could as much as $85 billion out of the US economy every year.
Republicans in Congress have taken the opposite approach to Democrats on student loan debt, calling on Biden to end the moratorium and arguing it presents an unfair burden on taxpayers.
‘Reckless loan forgiveness policies are a short-sighted answer that would crush American taxpayers and leave our higher education system more broken than before,’ GOP lawmakers on the House Education and Labor Committee said last month.
‘This administration cares more about appeasing the progressive wing of the Democrat party than offering solutions to address the rising cost of college.’
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