# Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Cannot Afford to Move to Washington **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 9, 2018, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263 "2018-11-09T21:47:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2018, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/61 "2018-11-10T21:28:44Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > [Per a New York Times interview](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-says-she-cant-afford-washington-dc-apartment-before-congress-starts/), New York’s new Representative will not be able to afford an apartment in Washington, DC until she starts drawing a Congressional salary. Why doesn’t she [just pay for it](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ocasio-cortez-calls-question-about-how-to-pay-for-medicare-for-all-puzzling)? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2018, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/62 "2018-11-10T21:48:48Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > I can’t read it as “complaining” so much as _using it_ to illustrate her point about how _the system_ is set up _for_ those with the money and _against_ representation of those of the working class. Her post noted that it was being worked out. > > It’s her theme and she is going to highlight those things that show it. > > A real _problem_, hers or otherwise, it was not. Then I don’t understand her point at all. Imagine a person making $25k per year who finds out that in two months he or she will be making $174k per year, however, there will be $5k to $10k of expenses for those two months. I dare say that everyone in the United States in that situation could handle such a thing and would positively welcome it. The implication is that there needs to be yet another government solution for this “problem” or else poor and lower middle class people will not be able to run for Congress. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2018, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/63 "2018-11-10T22:03:12Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Why doesn’t she [just pay for it](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ocasio-cortez-calls-question-about-how-to-pay-for-medicare-for-all-puzzling)? > > Regards, > Shodan You sure showed her, with a burn like that she’ll never be elected! ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2018, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/64 "2018-11-10T22:14:43Z")
Why wouldn’t on of her Dem colleagues like Maxine Waters not let her crash on her couch for a month? ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2018, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/65 "2018-11-10T22:32:51Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Why wouldn’t on of her Dem colleagues like Maxine Waters not let her crash on her couch for a month? Because she has already she has a plan to cover her living expenses until her congressional salary kicks in. Where was FOX news to mock elected republicans who have made similar complaints in the past? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2018, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/66 "2018-11-10T22:48:44Z")
> [@boytyperanma](#): > > Because she has already she has a plan to cover her living expenses until her congressional salary kicks in. > Where was FOX news to mock elected republicans who have made similar complaints in the past? Good question, Jason Chaffetz said that poor people couldn’t afford health insurance because they spent their money on the latest iPhone. Later he complained that he couldn’t afford to rent a place in dc on his salary. I’m sure Fox News excoriated him. ---
**Author:** ![UnwittingAmericans](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d9b06d/32.png) [@UnwittingAmericans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UnwittingAmericans)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2018, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/67 "2018-11-10T22:53:07Z")
You have to be fucking kidding me. Can’t scrape up a few thousand somewhere? This is ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2018, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/68 "2018-11-10T22:57:19Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > Then I don’t understand her point at all. Imagine a person making $25k per year who finds out that in two months he or she will be making $174k per year, however, there will be $5k to $10k of expenses for those two months. > > I dare say that everyone in the United States in that situation could handle such a thing and would positively welcome it. The implication is that there needs to be yet another government solution for this “problem” or else poor and lower middle class people will not be able to run for Congress. Nope. Not at all. Most Americans have no savings, and that’s even more likely when your income is low. And low income people tend to have bad credit because they have to be rather loose with due dates just to make ends meet. This is a genuine barrier. It’s not something that would ever happen in another job, as the employer, if they want you that bad, would give you advance to help you with expenses. Granted, it’s a smaller barrier than the amount of money you have to raise to even run, which is mostly what keeps out the poor people. But it is a barrier. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2018, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/69 "2018-11-10T23:05:45Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > I can’t read it as “complaining” so much as _using it_ to illustrate her point about how _the system_ is set up _for_ those with the money and _against_ representation of those of the working class. Her post noted that it was being worked out. > > It’s her theme and she is going to highlight those things that show it. > > A real _problem_, hers or otherwise, it was not. This. And I say that as someone who is anti-Socialist and would likely vote for most people ahead of Cortez on that basis. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2018, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/70 "2018-11-10T23:21:38Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > Then I don’t understand her point at all. Imagine a person making $25k per year who finds out that in two months he or she will be making $174k per year, however, there will be $5k to $10k of expenses for those two months. > > I dare say that everyone in the United States in that situation could handle such a thing and would positively welcome it. The implication is that there needs to be yet another government solution for this “problem” or else poor and lower middle class people will not be able to run for Congress. I think that you have very little idea of what someone who doesn’t make a lot of money can and cannot handle (easily or not) as far as sudden or unexpected expenses. As BigT states, most Americans (especially those who are in lower income brackets) have little or nothing in the way of savings. [69% of Americans have under $1000 in their savings accounts, with 34% having no savings at all.](https://www.gobankingrates.com/saving-money/savings-advice/data-americans-savings/) ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2018, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/71 "2018-11-10T23:25:17Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > Partisanship aside, that sounds like a her problem. You take a job outside of your home state, understand that there will be no relocation expenses provided, and then complain that you cannot afford to relocate? > > I guarantee that if I started a thread saying that I accepted a job several states away under the same circumstances, people would be unanimous in criticizing me for it. This is remarkably obtuse. Being elected to federal office is not merely taking a job out of state. She is talking about ordinary people being able to participate at the highest levels of American democracy, not getting a better welding job. If you are annoyed with all those fat cats in Washington making all the decisions then this is a very different issue than general labour mobility. I mean, sure this is a bit of a stunt. There’s probably a tonne of informal ways to make it happen and it sounds like she is already employing them. But some people deciding whether to run for office don’t know they exist. Someone running independent probably would hve little access to them. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2018, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/72 "2018-11-10T23:37:02Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > Then I don’t understand her point at all. Imagine a person making $25k per year who finds out that in two months he or she will be making $174k per year, however, there will be $5k to $10k of expenses for those two months. > > I dare say that everyone in the United States in that situation could handle such a thing … In fact I cannot, other than new grad interns who are being supported by parents, imagine another employer telling an onboarding employee to move to a new town and live there for three months doing required prepping for the job without any salary. I daresay that most people who have been making $25K/year could NOT easily swing their current expenses plus another $10K in expenses for three months with no income over that period. And I say that as someone who thinks that her statement is a bit disingenuous as she was able to solve the problem without much difficulty. ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2018, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/73 "2018-11-11T00:11:09Z")
If my private employer was able to pay for cross-country relocation and two months of temporary housing when I signed on, you would think the U.S. Government could do the same for a member of Congress. I’m fortunate enough to be in an industry where skilled workers are in high demand right now, but I’m also not remotely in any kind of leadership position. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2018, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/74 "2018-11-11T00:39:07Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **D’Anconia** : > > Why would she need a “family dwelling” in New York? I thought she was a young, single lady. Couldn’t she share an apartment with roommates like other young people do? I haven’t been keeping track of her biographical details. But I assumed that, even if she doesn’t have a family right now, she probably intends to start one in the not-too-distant future (on the grounds that most people want to start families). I was also trying to make as conservative an estimate as I could, because I expect that even a family dwelling in New York plus an apartment in DC would still add up to much less than her new salary. Alternately, I could have asked what her current salary is, on which she is apparently capable of maintaining a New York residence that meets her needs (whatever those needs are). If her current salary is less than $144,000 (i.e., less than her new salary by at least $30,000 , the cost **madmonk28** quoted for a DC apartment), then she should be able to absorb the greater cost of living. ---
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2018, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/75 "2018-11-11T00:45:10Z")
Doesn’t sound very climactic considering there are MILLIONS homeless in the US who will never have a chance… She thought she had no chance, so she threw a “Ban ICE” and then that phony Gilibrand noticed it helped her win, and so she said it… The Democratic Party has never been further to the right, and they wonder why they lost an election despite all the things you can say about Trump, including the things he said… ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2018, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/76 "2018-11-11T01:32:28Z")
> [@tim314](#): > > If my private employer was able to pay for cross-country relocation and two months of temporary housing when I signed on, you would think the U.S. Government could do the same for a member of Congress. I’m fortunate enough to be in an industry where skilled workers are in high demand right now, but I’m also not remotely in any kind of leadership position. Especially when the new employer says, “By the way, it’s a condition of this job offer that you maintain residence in your old state.” How many private employers do that? ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2018, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/77 "2018-11-11T01:33:18Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > But I assumed that, even if she doesn’t have a family right now, she probably intends to start one in the not-too-distant future (on the grounds that most people want to start families). Here’s a novel idea. Why doesn’t she wait to start a family until she can afford to do so? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2018, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/78 "2018-11-11T04:04:39Z")
There was a time, gentlemen argued these points like gentlemen. Gentlemen who saw the clear and obvious truth that landlords and businessmen…persons of substance!..were clearly the only possible leaders for a new nation, born in glorious Revolution, devoted to liberty and equality. Sorta kinda. The notion of being a Representative for a _salary_, like a common bootlick or codswallopper…well, that just wouldn’t do! Or a Senator?! Pearls clutched, lights out. But such rules would put any serious political power beyond the reach of _any_ of the common folk! They blinked, and waited for the punch line. Well, they had “skin in the game”, didn’t they? Men of substance could be relied upon to forgo the temptations of bribery and connivance, being immune to the cunning avarice of the peasant. That part didn’t work out so well, as it turned out. And so it goes. _Still_ goes, but not so much. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2018, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/79 "2018-11-11T04:06:01Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > Here’s a novel idea. Why doesn’t she wait to start a family until she can afford to do so? Perhaps with a bit of work, your novel idea could be a modest proposal? ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2018, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263/80 "2018-11-11T04:35:58Z")
I don’t know if there is anything to do about it, but the idea that public service pays not very much is a real barrier to those with talent and ability who would do so, but choose not to because they can’t afford it. If an otherwise excellent potential public servant can make $300K in the private sector, without all the hassle of elected office, it’s hard to see why they would want to take the giant pay cut. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cannot-afford-to-move-to-washington/824263.md?page=5)