AOC Fires Back on House Floor: 'I Am Someone's Daughter'

She calls out Rep. Ted Yoho for using his wife and daughters as 'excuses for poor behavior'
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 23, 2020 12:30 PM CDT

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took to the House floor Thursday to denounce fellow congressman Ted Yoho of Florida over their encounter on the Capitol steps this week. During that encounter, the GOP congressman wagged a finger in AOC's face and called her "disgusting," and a reporter said Yoho referred to her a "f---ing b----" after they parted ways. Yoho later apologized in his own House speech—though he denied using the vulgar term—saying he had two daughters of his own and is sensitive to such things. And it was that apology that AOC objected to on Thursday, reports the Hill. She said she has a problem with "using women, our wives and daughters, as shields and excuses for poor behavior." (See the video via CSPAN.)

"Mr. Yoho mentioned that he has a wife and two daughters," she continued, per CNN. "I am two years younger than Mr. Yoho's youngest daughter. I am someone's daughter, too. My father, thankfully, is not alive to see how Mr. Yoho treated his daughter." She added that "my mother got to see Mr. Yoho's disrespect on the floor of this House towards me on television, and I am here because I have to show my parents that I am their daughter and that they did not raise me to accept abuse from men." She argued that the issue is bigger than just this one incident—"it is cultural," she said. "It is a culture of ... impunity; of accepting of violence and violent language against women; and an entire structure of power that supports that." (More Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stories.)

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