Washington DC – On Labor Day of all occasions, millions of jobless Americans were left without unemployment aid as lawmakers permitted the program to expire, but New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez isn't letting go without a fight.

An estimated 7.5 million Americans have been affected by the discontinuation of unemployment benefits, Truthout reported.

The results of abandoning unemployment aid could be devastating. US Census data indicates that the checks, which sent qualified Americans hundreds of dollars per week, kept around 5.5 million people out of poverty in 2020.

Republicans have remained stubbornly opposed to unemployment insurance. GOP governors in several states already cut off pandemic jobless benefits over the summer before the federal program was set to expire.

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Progressive Democrats in April called on the Biden administration to make pandemic-era unemployment insurance permanent in the Build Back Better infrastructure plan, to no avail.

In August, over 100 Democratic House members sent a letter calling for the reinstatement of $600 per week checks, but they were once again met with inaction.

Now, it seems AOC is taking matters into her own hands, drafting a bill that would extend aid through February 1, 2022, and be distributed retroactively to September 6 of this year.

"I’ve been very disappointed on both sides of the aisle that we’ve just allowed pandemic unemployment assistance to completely lapse, when we are clearly not fully recovered from the cost effects of the pandemic," the congresswoman said during a Tuesday town hall.

"I simply just could not allow us to let this happen without at least trying."

AOC's legislation faces a steep path toward passage, as conservative members of her own party like Joe Manchin have already expressed opposition to extending unemployment insurance.