Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has ripped into Republican colleagues after they killed off her key climate change policy, the Green New Deal.
"People are dying," she said.
"This is not an elitist issue, this is a quality of life issue."
The Green New Deal is a proposed stimulus program aimed at addressing climate change and economic inequality.
Its concept has been championed by progressive party rising stars such as Ms Ocasio-Cortez and even embraced by Democratic 2020 contenders.
"This should not be a partisan issue, this is about our constituents and all of our lives," the congresswoman said.
"Iowa, Nebraska, broad swaths of the mid-west are drowning right now, underwater, towns that will never be recovered...
"And people are more concerned about helping oil companies than helping their own families? I don't think so."
The US Senate defeated a proposal to take up the Green New Deal in a vote Democrats called a "sham" and a "stunt".
Senators voted 57-0 against proceeding with the proposal.
