TRANSCRIPT:
REPORTER: “ — reaction to the Amazon decision?”
OCASIO-CORTEZ: “I think it’s incredible. I mean, it shows that everyday Americans still have the power to organize and fight for their communities, and they can have more say in this than the richest man in the world.”
REPORTER: “What do you say to those that criticize them pulling out, that the district now is going to lose 25,000 jobs that could have come there?”
OCASIO-CORTEZ: “Well, one of those things is a) we were subsidizing those jobs. The city was paying for those jobs, so frankly, if we were willing to give Amazon three — if we were willing to give away $3 billion for this deal, we could invest those $3 billion in our district ourselves if we wanted to. We could hire out more teachers, we can fix our subways, we can put a lot of people to work for that money if we wanted to. Additionally, those jobs, there was no guarantee that those jobs were for the New Yorkers that were here. We were looking at a deal that was not primarily putting the community first and I think that we can absolutely come together to create an economic plan that actually invests in New Yorkers, in higher wages, and in a dignified life.”