(CNN) On the day that the Senate rejected -- by a vote of 0-57 -- the broad strokes of the so-called "Green New Deal," New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D), one of the leading voices for the legislation, went off on those who mock the effort as nothing more than an elitist fantasy.

It began when Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy (R) introduced an amendment in a meeting of the Financial Services Committee that would force a homelessness bill that was being debated to meet "green" standards. "The Green New Deal is one that if you are a rich liberal from maybe New York or California it sounds great because you can afford to retrofit your home or build a new home that has a zero emissions, that is energy efficient, affordable and safe," he said.

"When we talk about the concern for the environment as an elitist concern, one year ago I was waitressing in a taco shop in downtown Manhattan. I just got health insurance for the first time a month ago. This is not an elitist issue. This is a quality of life issue. You want to tell people that their concern and their desire for clean air and clean water is elitist? Tell that to the kids in the South Bronx which are suffering from the highest rates of childhood asthma in the country. Tell that to the families in Flint whose kids, their blood is ascending in lead levels, their brains are damaged for the rest of their lives. Call them elitist. You're telling them that those kids are trying to get on a plane to Davos? People are dying!"

The clip of Ocasio-Cortez's speech, which was tweeted by liberal activist Brian Tyler Cohen at 8:32 p.m. Eastern Tuesday night , already has 4.7 million views. It had been retweeted almost 50,000 times and had almost 125,000 likes as of Wednesday morning.

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