Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in CNN "State of the Union" interviews during 2018

On Education: Tuition-free college spurs economic activity by millennials

OCASIO-CORTEZ: This is a broader agenda. If you look at my generation-millennials--the amount of economic activity that we do not engage, the fact that we delay purchasing homes, that we don't participate in the economy and purchasing cars, et cetera, as fully as possible, is a cost. It is an externality, of unprecedented amount of student loan debt.

On Environment: Government inaction caused 3,000 deaths in Hurricane Maria

OCASIO-CORTEZ: What happened in my family is what happened to thousands of Puerto Ricans, where, in the neglect and government inaction, there was so little response. My grandfather was in a medical facility [which lost power], and he had passed away in the middle of the night. The people who pass away in these storms are the most vulnerable. They are children with illnesses. They are our elderly. And when power is not restored, when infrastructure is not taken seriously, these are the first people who pass away in storms. And what we saw in Puerto Rico was a mass death of 3,000 people. It was the worst humanitarian crisis in modern American history. And many, many people impacted by the storm point to government inaction as the cause of death.

On Government Reform: Puerto Ricans suffer neglect from not having a federal vote

OCASIO-CORTEZ: Puerto Ricans have no right to vote in federal elections. They cannot choose a president. They do not have a representative vote in the House or the Senate, which means that they did not even have the capacity to choose for this president, yet they continue to suffer at the hands of this administration. And, for that reason, you do have the chronic neglect of the island. And it is acute situations like [the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, in which 3,000 died] in which Puerto Ricans continue to be treated like second-class citizens.

On Health Care: Medicare-for-All saves money; an investment for our future

OCASIO-CORTEZ: We need to realize that Medicare-for-All would save the American people a very large amount of money. These systems are not just pie in the sky. Many of them are accomplished by every modern, civilized democracy in the Western world. The United Kingdom has a form of single-payer health care, Canada, France, Germany. What we need to realize is that these investments are good for our future. These are generational investments, not short-term Band-Aids, but they are really profound decisions about who we want to be and how we want to act, as the wealthiest nation in history.

On Technology: Systemic neglect in Puerto Rico: Full FEMA resources needed

OCASIO-CORTEZ: There is a systemic issue here. And that is the modern-day colonial relationship: Puerto Ricans are technically American citizens, but they are treated in completely different ways as normal American citizens are. And, for that reason, you do have the chronic neglect of the island. And it is acute situations like this in which Puerto Ricans continue to be treated like second-class citizens. Puerto Rico was given a fraction of the FEMA recovery as Houston, for example, in Hurricane Harvey. And this is not just an issue of the colonial status of Puerto Rico, but it is also an issue of us not treating and dedicating enough resources to addressing climate change enough either.