Four freshmen congresswomen, including New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez chased Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell around the Capitol Wednesday in hopes of hand-delivering a letter aimed at persuading him to take up legislation to reopen the government.
“He seems to be running away from us,” Ocasio-Cortez, 29, commented to the media, reports The New York Post. “Eight-hundred thousand people don’t have their paychecks, so where’s Mitch?”
However, a spokesperson for McConnell denied the Kentucky Republican was hiding from Ocasio-Cortez, who was joined by Reps. Jahana Hayes of Connecticut, Lauren Underwood of Illinois and Katie Hill of California.
"I'm not even sure he had advance notice they were coming," McConnell spokesman Don Stewart said, adding that the senator has been busy with meetings, votes, and other activities.
The four freshmen congresswomen said they are part of an activist class who are frustrated that the House has passed numerous bills to reopen the government, only to have the Republican-controlled Senate refuse to take them up.
“At this point, the only thing left is for us to make noise and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” Hill said, after the quartet dropped off their letter, signed by 38 House freshmen, with a McConnell office staffer.
McConnell last week said Republican senators support President Donald Trump's call for border security, and he won't bring any legislation to the Senate floor for a vote unless he knows Trump will sign it.