First-term Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Friday climate change is a result of "market failure."

The New York Democrat aimed to rebut critics that her proposed "Green New Deal" is a step towards socialism. Ocasio-Cortez, who ousted an establishment Democratic incumbent in the 2018 primary, said it's the government's responsibility to fix the climate change issue because the capitalist market economy has proven incapable of providing solutions.

"The one thing we can't rebuke and cannot deny is that climate change is a problem of market failure in our economics. And moreover, ExxonMobil knew that climate change was real and man-made starting as far back as 1970. The entire United States government knew climate change was real and human-caused in 1989, the year I was born," Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview aired Friday on MSNBC.

"Forty years and three market solutions have not changed our position. This does not mean that we change our entire structure of government. But what it means is that we need to do something, something, and that is what this solution is about," she said.

Congressional Republicans view the "Green New Deal" is politically toxic for their Democratic rivals. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., this week sought to put Democrats on the spot over the climate change measure. The bill filed 0-57, with the bulk of Senate Democrats voting present. All Republican senators opposed it, along with Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.