Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blasts Sen. Joe Manchin for 'weird, patronizing behavior' after he referred to her as a 'young lady'

• Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed Sen. Joe Manchin after he referred to her as a "young lady."
• The New York Democrat called Manchin's comments "weird" and "patronizing."
• Ocasio-Cortez has criticized Manchin over his opposition to Democrat's $3.5 trillion spending package.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took a swipe at Sen. Joe Manchin after he referred to her as a "young lady" during a CNN appearance on Sunday.

"In Washington, I usually know my questions of power are getting somewhere when the powerful stop referring to me as 'Congresswoman' and start referring to me as 'young lady,'" the New York Democrat tweeted Sunday evening, hours after Manchin's interview aired.

"Why this kind of weird, patronizing behavior is so accepted is beyond me!" she added in a follow-up tweet.

Ocasio-Cortez's comments came after Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, refuted her claims that he is beholden to the oil and gas industry. In a tweet earlier this month, Ocasio-Cortez said that Manchin has "weekly huddles" with ExxonMobil and helps lobbyists draft "fossil fuel bills."

"I keep my door open for everybody. That's totally false," Manchin told CNN of Ocasio-Cortez's remarks. "And those type of superlatives - it's just awful. Continue to divide, divide, divide."

"I don't know the young lady that well," he added. "I really don't. I met her one time, I think, between sets here. But that's it. So we have not had any conversations. She's just speculating and saying things because she wants to."

A number of progressive-leaning House Democrats, such as Ocasio-Cortez, have recently criticized Manchin after he opposed the party's $3.5 trillion pricetag for a spending package that covers a major chunk President Joe Biden's domestic agenda.

The proposal aims to boost the country's social safety net, including historic investments in health care and education with plans for tuition-free community college and Medicaid expansion, among other provisions.

"There's not a rush to do that right now. We don't have an urgency. Don't you think we ought to debate a little bit more, talk about it, and see what we've got out there?" Manchin said of the package on ABC News on Sunday.

The moderate senator's reluctance to embrace the proposal presents a rocky road ahead for Democrats to fulfill their legislative priorities. The party holds narrow majorities in both the House and Senate. Manchin's support is crucial as Democrats attempt to skirt Republican opposition and approve the trillion-dollar package in a party-line vote through a process called reconciliation. But Manchin has raised objections to the plan, citing concerns over inflation and the federal government's debt.