It’s a clash of left-handed titans.
Firebrand representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Mayor Bill de Blasio are involved in another public dispute, this time after Hizzoner called the legislator “just wrong” when he accused him of falsifying his $ 1 billion cut to the budget. New York Police.
During an interview on CNN’s “New Day” on Wednesday morning, De Blasio was asked about a statement by the congresswoman in which she said she was using “budget tricks” and “fun math” to make it appear that he had defrauded the city police. Department.
“Well, she is simply wrong,” he said.
“The facts are that we took money from the NYPD and put it into youth programs. We are downsizing the NYPD, but we can still stay safe. “
Ocasio-Cortez responded to Hizzoner’s comments Wednesday afternoon with a tweet from a New York Times report that accused Big Apple officials of achieving the cuts with a “budget trick: relocating school safety officials under the Department of Education. “
The radical reduction to the NYPD’s $ 6 billion budget, approved by the City Council Tuesday night, was made possible in part by transferring the department’s school security officers to other city agencies, saving $ 349.5 million.
JUDGE JEANINE RIPS ‘BOZO DE BLASIO’ ON THE BUDGET COURTS
Meanwhile, 1,163 police officers have been removed from the department, while overtime will be reduced by $ 352 million.
Ocasio-Cortez, a Democratic socialist, said the budget cuts, which he described as a “false illusion,” did not go far enough in a statement released Tuesday.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“This is not a victory. The fight to eliminate the police continues, “he said.” Definancing the police means refining the police. It does not mean budget tricks or fun math. It does not mean moving school police officers from the NYPD budget to the Department budget. of Education, so exactly the same police remain in the schools. ”
The two progressives exchanged blows when de Blasio praised the New York police response to the violent protests in the city, and AOC called the comments “unacceptable”.
This story first appeared in the New York Post.
