South Carolina Republican Representative Jeff Duncan scolded New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to "educate" herself during a debate on the floor of the House of Representatives about oil and natural gas production on federal land.
And she was not having it.
Duncan supports increased use of fossil fuels and was this week named the Energy, Climate, and Grid Security Subcommittee Chairman on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which helps shape American energy policy.
So, it came as no surprise that he was angry with Ocasio-Cortez's opposition to increasing the country's reliance on fossil fuels—although his condescending attitude while speaking to his Democratic colleague was notable.
You can watch what happened in the video below.
\u201cDuncan: Educate Yourself\nAOC: While I cannot control the fact that the other side has made the assumption that I am uneducated, one of the things that I can say is that I may not be here with the mission to increase profits for corporations..\u201d— Acyn (@Acyn) 1674781049
Duncan urged AOC to "educate" herself on the impact of natural gas:
"Go and learn. Go ahead and learn about this. Educate yourself about how America obtained its low emissions. If you care about air quality, if you care about climate change, natural gas is what got America there."
"Educate yourself on that and we'll have a better debate about future resources, future energy production. But this debate tonight is not about any of that."
To which Ocasio-Cortez replied:
"I understand in this body [of Congress] it's not the first time that the opposing side can't seem to be able to debate the issue and so they must come after my character."
"While I cannot control the fact that the other side seems to have made the assumption that I am uneducated, one of the things that I can say or what they may say about my world view, one of the things I can say is that while I may not work for Wall Street, that is true."
"I may not be here with the mission to increase profits for corporations. That is true. My mission here is for the well-being and dignity of our family and our planet's future, for our children's ability to live on this planet. That is what this amendment is about."
"Moreover, [when] we talk about education, we should all take it upon ourselves in this body to educate ourselves on the science of the challenge of climate change that is before us."
Shortly afterward, Ocasio-Cortez shared video of her exchange with Duncan and tweeted:
"Fewer things are more predictable than Republicans having a meltdown when I’m clearing them in debate."
You can see her tweet below.
\u201cFewer things are more predictable than Republicans having a meltdown when I\u2019m clearing them in debate. \ud83d\udc85\ud83c\udffd\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1674786887
Ocasio-Cortez's response was met with praise online.
\u201cThey just can\u2019t debate you & they don\u2019t want to learn or just can\u2019t learn as most of them have lived under corporate rocks in some alternative world\u201d— StraightTalker7444 (@StraightTalker7444) 1674794386
\u201cAOC schools old, white, soft men. Again. And again. And again.\u201d— Dan Pingelton (@Dan Pingelton) 1674794275
\u201cYou rock, AOC!\u201d— Jon Schmidt (@Jon Schmidt) 1674790263
\u201cHe may as well have added \u201clittle lady\u201d at the end of his disparaging comments towards AOC. Either way, it was ill-advised to take her on and think it would be safe to do so.\u201d— LeeAnn \u2744\ufe0f\u2603\ufe0f\u2744\ufe0f (@LeeAnn \u2744\ufe0f\u2603\ufe0f\u2744\ufe0f) 1674790731
\u201cThe uneducated and useless @GOP tried to lecture a brilliant mind. Let's call it a teaching moment boys. It's never too late.\u201d— Igor SC. (@Igor SC.) 1674791710
\u201cShe\u2019s just always fantastic\u201d— Benjamin Dudley (@Benjamin Dudley) 1674793365
\u201cI'm glad you're in Congress AOC. Thank you for standing up for what you believe is right.\u201d— \u262e \ud83c\udff3\u200d\ud83c\udf08 Teri Goodson \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83e\udd9c (@\u262e \ud83c\udff3\u200d\ud83c\udf08 Teri Goodson \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83e\udd9c) 1674794063
\u201cI think @AOC just educated @RepJeffDuncan\u201d— Dawn Morais Webster (@Dawn Morais Webster) 1674790017
Ocasio-Cortez was responding to Duncan as the House considered a bill to require the federal government “to approve a plan to increase drilling on federal lands and waters” before drawing from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in non-emergency cases.
She later said Duncan was angry with her for proposing an amendment to the legislation on the grounds that leasing more land to fossil fuel companies would not guarantee lower gas prices because companies making profits are not going to "pass along" savings to consumers.
Ocasio-Cortez said Duncan was responding in particular to her proposal, which would "prohibit oil and gas companies who engage in stock buybacks from leasing federal lands."
