Ocasio-Cortez accuses Buttigieg of pushing “GOP talking point” to vilify tuition-free college plans

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., took issue with South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s new campaign ad criticizing tuition-free college proposals from other Democratic candidates such as Sens. We can gather the majority to drive those big ideas through without turning off half the country before we even get into office.” Ocasio-Cortez, who has endorsed Sanders in the primary, slammed Buttigieg’s argument as a “GOP talking point," which she said she was “sad” to see a Democratic candidate adopt. We don’t ban the rich from public schools, firefighters, or libraries bc they are public goods.” The New York congresswoman argued that universal systems “benefit everyone,” because “everyone’s invested.” When you “start carving people out” and add "asterisks to who can benefit from goods that should be available to all," she wrote, “cracks in the system develop.” “Many children of the elite want to go to private, Ivyesque schools anyway, which aren’t covered by tuition-free public college,” Ocasio-Cortez added. Buttigieg has long been criticized by progressives for pushing means testing for programs like public education, which the socialist magazine Jacobin described as a policy “cherished by moderates in the Democratic Party.” “Democrats’ attraction to means testing is not rooted in a firm commitment to maximum equality,” wrote Jacobin’s Meagan Day. Means testing is an expression of establishment Democrats’ timid middle-ground politics, and their opposition to free college is no different.” Sparky Abraham, the editor of Current Affairs who wrote a response to the criticism of tuition-free college in the spring, slammed Buttigieg’s proposal by pointing out the “burdens land on poor people to prove they’re poor, and colleges don’t lose market share or profit to public competitors.” “This is pure profit protection at your expense,” he wrote.