... but not medicare: Ocasio-Cortez

"Why is it that our pockets are only empty when it comes to education and health care for our kids?" candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said.

Democratic congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says the United States is more focused on funding "unlimited war" than education and healthcare.

Ocasio-Cortez defended her proposals for universal Medicare during an interview with CNN Thursday, saying when it comes to tax cuts for billionaires or unlimited war, the U.S. government "seem to invent that money very easily."

"Why is it that our pockets are only empty when it comes to education and health care for our kids? Why are our pockets only empty when we talk about 100 percent renewable energy that is going to save this planet and allow our children to thrive?" Ocasio-Cortez said.

The socialist candidate acknowledged that, though the Medicare-for-all act introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders costs UU$32.6 trillion, it cannot compare to the cost of the current system.

Some US$225.8 billion is lost annually through worker health or injury, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports.

"We write unlimited blank checks for war. We just wrote a US$2 trillion check for that GOP tax cut and nobody asked those folks how they are going to pay for it," Ocasio-Cortez said, adding that the decision shows a lack of moral priorities, especially by the Republican party.

"At the end of the day, we see this is not a pipe dream. Every other developed nation in the world does this, why can't America?"

Ocasio-Cortez previously served as an organizer for Senator Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign and Justice Democrats, a left-leaning group formed by former Sanders staffers.

The 28-year-old left-wing newcomer defeated 10-term Democrat Joe Crowley, who was touted as a future leader of the Democratic party and possible successor to Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, in what is being viewed as one of the biggest political upsets in U.S. history.