PROJECTS

This page presents various political projects focused on improving quality of life, promoting sustainable development, and ensuring social justice. The initiatives highlighted here address key areas such as healthcare reform, accessible education, job creation, and the transition to a green economy. Each project is designed to meet specific societal needs and is supported by detailed implementation strategies that prioritize economic feasibility and long-term impact. Through public discussions, multimedia presentations, and open forums, these initiatives are shared transparently, allowing for community engagement and input.

Economic policy

Ocasio-Cortez has rejected state socialism, calling it undemocratic and prone to corruption, while expressing support for worker control over the means of production. She has argued that market economies can coexist with democratic socialism, particularly when workers have ownership and decision-making power in companies, citing worker cooperatives as an ideal model.

She has advocated for raising the marginal tax rate on top earners to fund progressive policies and was one of 46 House Democrats who voted against the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023. She has also called for reducing defense spending and was the only House Democrat to vote against a 2022 omnibus spending bill due to increased funding for defense and immigration enforcement agencies.

In late 2020, Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib introduced a public banking bill to support the establishment of state and local public banks, granting them access to Federal Reserve resources. In 2021, she proposed a bill to implement postal banking pilot programs in underserved areas, aiming to provide financial services to communities without affordable banking options.

A strong advocate for labor rights, she has pushed for a $15 federal minimum wage. In May 2019, she returned to bartending for a day to promote the Raise the Wage Act, highlighting the challenges faced by tipped workers earning as little as $2.13 per hour. She has criticized wage disparities in the service sector, calling such low pay a form of indentured servitude. In January 2021, she skipped Joe Biden’s inauguration to join striking workers at the Hunts Point Produce Market in the Bronx.

In September 2019, she introduced an anti-poverty initiative called A Just Society, which proposed accounting for essential living costs such as childcare, healthcare, and internet access when measuring poverty. The plan also sought to cap rent increases and expand access to social programs for formerly incarcerated individuals and undocumented immigrants.

To help finance the Green New Deal, Ocasio-Cortez proposed a 70% marginal tax rate on incomes above $10 million. Estimates of its potential revenue varied, with some analysts projecting $720 billion over a decade, while others argued that it could either raise $189 billion or result in a revenue loss depending on tax structure changes. She has also opposed the pay-as-you-go rule, arguing that deficit spending—similar to that used during the New Deal—would be necessary to implement ambitious progressive policies.

She strongly opposed New York City’s planned $3 billion tax incentive package for Amazon’s proposed HQ2 project, arguing that the funds should be invested directly in local communities instead. Critics contended that her opposition cost the city thousands of jobs and billions in potential tax revenue, while progressive groups countered that taxpayers would have been subsidizing Amazon’s presence. Amazon later announced that it would bring 1,500 jobs to New York without tax incentives.

In 2024, she participated in a live-streamed roundtable with Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan, discussing regulatory efforts to curb corporate overreach. When billionaire investor Mark Cuban, a supporter of Kamala Harris, criticized Khan, Ocasio-Cortez responded forcefully, warning that any attempt to remove Khan would be met with strong resistance.

Environment

Ocasio-Cortez has called for stronger environmental leadership in Congress, describing climate change as the greatest national security threat to the United States and the biggest challenge facing industrialized civilization. Citing a United Nations report warning that the effects of climate change could become irreversible if carbon emissions are not curbed within the next 12 years, she has emphasized the urgent need for action to prevent catastrophic consequences for humanity.

Her signature environmental initiative, the Green New Deal, proposes transitioning the U.S. electrical grid to 100% renewable energy and eliminating fossil fuel use within a decade. The plan, estimated to cost approximately $2.5 trillion per year, would be funded in part through increased taxation on the wealthiest Americans. While she has expressed an "open mind" about nuclear energy’s role in the transition, critics have noted its absence from her formal proposals.

In 2024, with the backing of Jamaal Bowman and Bernie Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez introduced the Green New Deal for Public Housing, a proposal aimed at securing funding for the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) and facilitating its transition to clean energy.