It also “makes campaign finance reform harder,” punishes members “who rely on a straight salary” and rewards those “who rely on money loopholes and other forms of self-dealing,” she argued.

But the freshman lawmaker explained in a thread on Twitter why she believed the idea of curbing pay increases for politicians “may sound nice,” but it “only increases pressure on them to keep dark money loopholes open.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) acknowledged Tuesday that her support of a pay raise for members of Congress is “not a fun or politically popular position to take.”

Yep. Voting against cost of living increases for members of Congress may sound nice, but doing so only increases pressure on them to keep dark money loopholes open. This makes campaign finance reform *harder.* ALL workers deserve cost of living increases, incl min wage workers. https://t.co/fCdgHKx4G1

What this does is punish members who rely on a straight salary, and reward those who rely on money loopholes and other forms of self-dealing. For example, it incentivizes the horrible kinds of legislative looting we saw in the GOP tax scam bill.

It’s not a fun or politically popular position to take. But consistency is important. ALL workers should get cost of living increases. That’s why minimum wage should be pegged to inflation, too. Voting against cost of living increases is 1 reason why dark $ loopholes stay open.

In democratically socialist businesses (like worker co-ops) or methods (like collective bargaining) you actually CAN vote for a worker pay increase. Many do! We can’t pass these laws bc of big money. This is how you chip at it. Like I said, it’s not popular but I’m being 💯 https://t.co/toFwbs56x0

Ocasio-Cortez’s comments came in response to a report that House Democrats had nixed part of an upcoming federal spending bill that would have reinstated the annual cost-of-living increase for lawmakers that was frozen when the economic crisis hit in 2009.

Pay has been $174,000 per year for rank-and-file senators and representatives for the last decade. Democratic leaders acted over fears among lawmakers on both sides of the aisle of a backlash from voters in swing districts, reports The Washington Post.

Ocazio-Cortez has, since her victory in the 2018 midterms, repeatedly used her Twitter account to spotlight on what happens in Congress. She has highlighted how lobbyists manipulate policymakers, for example.

She and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) are currently considering working together on a bill that would prohibit former members of Congress from becoming lobbyists.

And in February, a video of her exposing the flaws in campaign finance laws via a hypothetical game in which she played a “bad guy” who wanted to “get away with as much bad things as possible” to “enrich myself and advance my interests” went viral:

Check out the video here: