AOC Slams Chamber of Commerce As ‘Secretive’ and ‘Bizarre’ After It Urges End to COVID UI Benefits

AOC Slams Chamber of Commerce As ‘Secretive’ and ‘Bizarre’ After It Urges End to COVID UI Benefits

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, took aim at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, calling it a "secretive" and "bizarre" lobbying group after it urged lawmakers to repeal supplemental weekly unemployment benefits.

The Chamber of Commerce, a business lobbying group that generally is more supportive of Republican candidates, blamed the extra $300 in weekly federal unemployment insurance (UI) that was approved as part of President Joe Biden's American Rescue Plan in early March for the worse than expected job gains the country saw in April. Some Republican lawmakers also quickly blamed the slower than expected job growth on the extra unemployment benefits millions of Americans are currently receiving.

"Fun fact: the US Chamber of Commerce is a secretive business lobby that supported a $3M effort to primary me out of office last year bc I stand up to Wall Street. (They lost) Wal-mart was outed as a secret client," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Friday afternoon.