Ivanka Trump criticized parts of the Green New Deal being championed by freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., saying in a Fox News interview that she didn't think most Americans "want to be given something."
The first daughter, who is a senior White House aide, told Fox News host Steve Hilton that job guarantees and an elevated minimum wage — both pledges of the progressive proposal — wouldn't be popular, according to an excerpt of an interview that will air Sunday.
"I don’t think most Americans, in their heart, want to be given something," Trump said in the interview clip released Monday. "I’ve spent a lot of time traveling around this country over the last four years. People want to work for what they get."
"So, I think that this idea of a guaranteed minimum is not something most people want," she added. "They want the ability to be able to secure a job. They want the ability to live in a country where there’s the potential for upward mobility."
Ocasio-Cortez responded Tuesday evening on Twitter, saying, "As a person who actually worked for tips & hourly wages in my life, instead of having to learn about it 2nd-hand, I can tell you that most people want to be paid enough to live."
Earlier in the evening, Trump sought to clarify her remarks in a pair of tweets, saying she doesn't "believe in a minimum guarantee for people 'unwilling to work,' which was the question asked of me."
Trump had been asked by Hilton: “You’ve got people who will see that offer from the Democrats, from the progressive Democrats, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: ‘Here’s the Green New Deal, here’s the guarantee of a job,’ and think, ‘Yeah, that’s what I want. It’s that simple.’ What do you say to those people?”
Conservatives have criticized the Green New Deal as unrealistic and ill-conceived. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has pledged to schedule a vote on the Green New Deal resolution — a broad-strokes plan for tackling climate change introduced by Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., that wouldn't have the weight of law if passed — to force the Democrats to stake out their positions on the policies the proposal endorses.
Already, many 2020 Democratic presidential contenders have expressed support for the Green New Deal, which aims to rapidly transition the United States off of fossil fuels while seeking to combat racial and economic inequalities.
