Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said that “common sense” bipartisan bills, including one targeting sexual abusers, have stalled only because her name is on them.
“I have bills that are so common sense … that pass committee unanimously, that everyone — Republicans agree on, Democrats agree on, swing seat folks agree on — and you know, having people on my team be told, ‘This can’t move because it has her name on it,’” Ocasio-Cortez said Thursday on “The Majority Report.”
See Ocasio-Cortez’s comments below:
She added that this “has happened in the past under both party leaderships, and that’s OK because we find other ways to be effective.”
The progressive New York representative last year cosponsored the DEFIANCE Act, which would allow for victims of nonconsensual sexual images, including deepfakes, to sue.
The bill came with bipartisan support from across the aisle, even from staunch MAGA Republicans, including the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.).
“It passed unanimously in the Senate. It has a bunch of bipartisan co-sponsors, and yet Republicans apparently don’t want to pass it because it will give you, specifically, a win. What’s going on there?” host Emma Vigeland asked.
Ocasio-Cortez said, “This is not the first time that we’ve encountered that roadblock, frankly, in both Republican and Democratic majorities.”
She went on, “There is a lot invested in trying to convey an ascendant and popular movement as ineffective, and so there is a lot of incentive by our political establishment to do everything they can to maintain that narrative because it’s one of the few things that they have.”
She called on House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Republicans to act on the DEFIANCE Act.
“We should not allow pedophiles and sexual abusers to run amok because you just don’t like a girl,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
“Hot take,” Vigeland quipped.
The piece of legislation comes at a time when concerns over deepfake sexual abuse material, especially content targeting minors, are on the rise.
Nonprofit Common Sense Media conducted a survey in the fall of 2025, sampling 1,314 teens aged 13 to 17, and found that 1 in 4 of them had seen AI-generated sexual abuse material depicting themselves or someone they know.
Ocasio-Cortez told Vigeland that “to allow this to continue” just to “score a political point” is among the “most egregious and horrible activities that we can do.”
“I actually do think that on this issue … they are capable of being better,” she added.