A public feud between Congress members Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Nancy Mace escalated on social media this week, with Mace accusing AOC of being hypocritical for voting against Mace’s Republican-backed bill that would have released records of sexual harassment cases involving members of Congress.
Mace called out AOC for being hypocritical in her actions on X, saying, “AOC voted against releasing sexual harassment records of Members of Congress. But wants to lecture you on Epstein…”
Ocasio-Cortez responded that the bill contained many problems that could have harmed victims.
“Lady, your sloppy resolution would have doxxed victim statements that had identifying info,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote. “It redacted names & NOTHING else. House empl. records can match statements to reverse ID names. Take your job seriously. Fix your messy loopholes & I’d vote YES. You know that. Not hard!”
The public feud between these two members of Congress is over Mace’s bill, H.Res.1100, which would have released records of sexual harassment cases involving members of Congress, but with names redacted.
Ocasio-Cortez and others argued that the redaction was insufficient because the victims could still be identified through Congress’s employment records.
In a follow-up post, Ocasio-Cortez, who has been very vocal about the fact that she is a victim of sexual assault, stated that the measure does not protect victims. She stated that the measure does not require the consent of the victims who have filed the cases against the people who have committed the assault. She also stated that the measure includes allegations that have not been proven, which could cause damage to both the accuser and the accused.
Ocasio-Cortez also criticized the swift movement of the measure in the House of Representatives, stating that the measure was not reviewed as carefully as the laws regarding the testimony of the victims of sexual assault.
“Originally we were supposed to debate the details of the text over two days but for some reason they rushed the vote so we couldn’t iron out any of these details to get this information properly disclosed in a way that guarantees victim safety,” Ocasio-Cortez stated.
The House voted 357-65 to table the measure, effectively blocking the measure from moving forward.
