众议院议长南希·佩洛西公开试图消除她和众议员亚历山大·奥卡西奥-科尔特斯之间的分歧。
“在我们的核心小组中，我们有我们的分歧。尊重这一点，而不是小题大做。尊重这一点，”佩洛西星期五告诉记者。“这些都是不同之处，我们作为地区代表如何表达自己是我们的责任。”
“我甚至不会说我们之间有一把斧头[]”她补充道。
这些言论是在当天上午她在国会大厦办公室与奥卡西奥-科尔特斯进行了约30分钟的私下会面后发表的。奥卡西奥-科尔特斯是一位直言不讳的新生立法者，他更进步的意识形态最近几个月与佩洛西的意识形态发生了冲突，最近的紧张局势被卷入公共领域。
“作为议长，我必须给我们的党团带来团结。佩洛西继续说道:“为了做到这一点，我们的核心小组有一个最大胆的共同点，我要对我们的成员说，‘你的工作描述和职称是同一个:代表’。“我认为自己是织布机上的一名织工，只是用最大胆的方式把所有的线连在一起。”
关于闭门会议的细节知之甚少。佩洛西拒绝详细说明，只是说两人讨论了与奥卡西奥-科尔特斯区有关的问题，并且他们“没有太多不同之处”。她还说，她“一直”与成员会面，并指责记者对这件事进行了密切报道。
众议院议长南希·佩洛西7月26日在DC华盛顿美国国会大厦游客中心举行每周新闻发布会。
佩洛西说:“我希望你会对我昨天在[的会议感兴趣]关于社区健康中心的资金问题。”
Ocasio-Cortez说，她“期待着我们继续我们的工作”，最初她通过一个私人出口溜出佩洛西的办公室躲避记者。
“一如既往，我认为议长尊重我们作为一个团结的政党走到一起的事实，”她后来在众议院监督委员会会议后告诉记者。
该党的最高民主党人佩洛西和四名第一任期议员——密歇根州的拉希达·特拉伊卜、明尼苏达州的伊尔汉·奥马尔、马萨诸塞州的阿扬纳·普雷斯利和纽约的奥卡西奥-科尔特斯——之间的口水战暴露了党内深刻的意识形态分歧。
佩洛西质疑新生的政治权力。少数民族女议员指责她在本月早些时候的一次私人核心会议上指责议员在推特上公开嘲笑民主党同事时发表了带有种族色彩的言论。佩洛西警告不要公开抱怨是在Ocasio-Cortez她呢参谋长利用社交媒体平台和媒体来批评佩洛西和其他温和派普通成员支持南部边境紧急人道主义援助法案。“小队”认为它缺乏对移民被拘留者的保障。
奥卡西奥-科尔特斯后来告诉记者华盛顿邮报这位演讲者“公然挑新当选的有色人种女性”是“完全不尊重的”佩洛西否认指控但是奥卡西奥-科尔特斯的言论最终滚雪球般蔓延到特朗普总统身上，他发表种族主义推特说“小队”应该回到他们来自的国家。
佩洛西在被问及是否她和奥卡西奥-科尔特斯讨论了她与“小队”的不和时回答说“不”
Ocasio-Cortez拒绝在委员会听证会上对此置评。
“就像你在一个家庭里。在一个家庭里，你有你的不同。但你仍然是一家人，”佩洛西在新闻发布会上说。"你的家人总是在所有事情上意见一致吗？"
监督委员会主席、民主党代表伊莱贾·卡明斯表达了类似的观点，即出现这种裂痕并不少见，并重申了“家庭”这一组成部分。
然而，他乐观地认为批评会平息，他每天早上的第一句祈祷是“上帝，保护我的嘴”
“换句话说，不要让我说可能伤害别人的话，”他告诉记者。“每当你有批评任何人的人时，我认为这会分散你的注意力。我想我们在未来会看到一点不同。”
NANCY PELOSI TRIES TO SQUASH AOC POWER GRAB NARRATIVE: 'WE HAVE OUR DIFFERENCES. RESPECT THAT'
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is publicly trying to put to bed the differences that she and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have.
"In our caucus, we have our differences. Respect that instead of making a big issue of it. Respect that," Pelosi told members of the press Friday. "Those are differences, and how we express ourselves as representatives of our districts is our responsibility."
"I would never even say there was a hatchet [between us]," she added.
Those remarks came after a roughly 30-minute private meeting that morning in her Capitol building office with Ocasio-Cortez, an outspoken freshman lawmaker whose more progressive ideology has clashed with Pelosi's in recent months, tension that has recently boiled over into the public sphere.
"As speaker, I have to bring unity to our caucus. And to do so with the boldest common denominator in our caucus, I say to our members, 'your job description and job title are one and the same: representatives,'" Pelosi continued. "And I consider myself a weaver, at the loom, just making all of those threads come together in the boldest possible way."
Few details are known about the closed-door meeting. Pelosi declined to elaborate, only to say that the two discussed issues related to Ocasio-Cortez's district and that they don't "have that many differences." She further said that she meets with members "all the time" and chided reporters for closely covering the matter.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) holds her weekly press conference at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center July 26 in Washington, DC.
"I wish you would be interested in [my meeting] from yesterday on money for community health centers," Pelosi said.
Ocasio-Cortez, who said she was "looking forward to us continuing our work," originally eluded reporters by slipping out of Pelosi's office via a private exit.
"As always, I think that the speaker respects the fact that we're coming together as a party with unity," she later told reporters after a House Oversight Committee meeting.
A spat between Pelosi, the party's top Democrat, and four first-term lawmakers—Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Ocasio-Cortez of New York—known as "The Squad" has exposed the deep ideological differences within the party.
Pelosi has questioned the political power of the freshmen. The minority congresswomen accused her of making racially charged remarks when she scolded members during a private caucus meeting earlier this month for publicly ridiculing Democratic colleagues on Twitter. Pelosi's warning to refrain from issuing public gripes came in the wake of Ocasio-Cortez and her chief of staff taking to the social media platform and the press to chastise Pelosi and other moderate, rank-and-file members for supporting an emergency humanitarian aid bill for the southern border. "The Squad" believed it lacked safeguards for migrant detainees.
Ocasio-Cortez later told The Washington Post the speaker had been "outright disrespectful" with "the explicit singling out of newly elected women of color." Pelosi denied the accusation, but Ocasio-Cortez's remarks eventually snowballed into President Trump interjecting himself by issuing racist tweets that "The Squad" should return to the countries they came from.
Pelosi replied "no" when asked leaving the meeting if she and Ocasio-Cortez discussed her rift with "The Squad."
Ocasio-Cortez declined to comment about it leaving her committee hearing.
"It's like you're in a family. In a family you have your differences. But you're still a family," Pelosi said at a press conference. "Does your family always agree on everything?"
Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings, chairman of the Oversight Committee, expressed similar sentiments that it was not uncommon for rifts such as this to occur and reiterated the "family" component.
