Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hits back at Republican House member who told her to 'educate herself'

New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez did not mince words when South Carolina GOP Rep. Jeff Duncan urged her to “educate herself” after she proposed an amendment to a fossil fuel bill, HuffPost reports.

The bill, according to Roll Call, would “require the federal government to approve a plan to increase drilling on deferral lands and waters prior to any non-emergency drawdown of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve."

Ocasio-Cortez argued on the House floor that “leasing more land to fossil fuel companies wouldn’t guarantee a drop in gas prices," and that the corporations financially benefiting likely wouldn’t “pass along” funds to consumers.

In his response on the House floor, Duncan said to the New York lawmaker, “Go and learn for yourself about this. Educate yourself on how America attained its low emissions. You care about the air quality. You care about climate change. Natural gas is what got America there. Educate yourself on that and then we can have a better debate about future resources.”

"This is not the first time that the opposing side can’t seem to be able to debate the issue, and so they must come after my character," Ocasio-Cortez said.

She continued, "While I cannot control that the other side seems to have made the assumption that I am uneducated, one of the things I can say is that — while I may not work for Wall Street, that is true. I may not be here with the mission to increase profits for corporations — my mission here is for the well-being and dignity of our family and for our future. For our children’s ability to live on this planet. That is what this amendment is about.”

Using Duncan’s words, Ocasio-Cortez concluded her address by charging all of the lawmakers with the task to “educate ourselves on the science of the challenge of climate change that is before us.”

Following the debate, Ocasio-Cortez took her thoughts to Twitter.

She tweeted, "Fewer things are more predictable than Republicans having a meltdown when I'm clearing them in debate."

She continued, "In case you’re curious about why this man is so angry with me, it may be because I introduced an amendment to a GOP bill that would prohibit oil and gas companies who engage in stock buybacks from leasing federal lands. Seems as though I hit a nerve!"