Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Raises Nearly $5 Million For Texas Relief Fund

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has raised about $4.7 million in relief funding for Texas after freezing temperatures left millions without power or clean water since last Thursday.

Ocasio-Cortez’s press secretary, Ivet Contreras, confirmed that nearly $5 million had been collected as of Sunday evening.

“Our first major relief effort was last year when Covid hit and so we were able to build a disaster relief and fundraising operation and we cut our teeth on that with Covid but that was in our home district, and so before that, we had mobilized for Hurricane Maria relief, but that was before I was elected a member of Congress,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “I think this is just something that we should be able to do whenever there is an area in our country that’s in need.”

Dozens of Texans have died due to the plummeting temperatures. The blackouts have have led to criticism of Texas’ power infrastructure, which is largely cut off from the rest of the country.

The funds raised will go to organizations such as the Houston Food Bank, Family Eldercare, Feeding Texas, the Bridge Homeless Recovery Center and Corazon Ministries.

Ocasio-Cortez visited Texas on Saturday to help distribute food at the Houston Food Bank and visiting a home affected by the weather.

“It’s one thing to read about what’s going on, but it’s another thing entirely to see the damage for ourselves,” she said. “The message in Washington is, let’s not let people get caught up in a bunch of red tape. Let’s try to get this assistance out the door as much as people need and as quickly as we can.”