Former President Barack Obama reminded some freshman House Democrats this week that some of their much-touted liberal ideas have sky-high price tags that will scare taxpayers and can’t be ignored.

Obama didn’t name specific policies, but was likely referring to ideas like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal, Medicare for all and free public college tuition.

“He said we [as Democrats] shouldn’t be afraid of big, bold ideas — but also need to think in the nitty-gritty about how those big, bold ideas will work and how you pay for them,” a person summarizing the former president’s remarks told the Washington Post.

Progressive freshman lawmakers including New York’s Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan have gotten headlines with the lofty goals.

But many other Democrats hail from swing or red districts, making them less enthusiastic about the progressives’ goals, which they have taken to calling socialist as the 2020 election looms.

People in the room during the Monday evening gathering told the paper that Obama believed that his warnings about sticker shock were necessary because voters cared about the costs associated with policies and that the lawmakers should be ready to convince their constituents of the need for such expensive projects.

Obama, the people who were there said, made few if any remarks about President Trump or special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election — though he did gripe that the GOP under Trump had taken a hard right turn.

The former president, who had campaigned for many of the freshmen in the room, said he was proud that they were fighting for what they believed in.

Obama also complimented House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

“The reason I love Nancy is because she combines a passion for doing what’s right for our country and our kids, along with a toughness that can’t be matched on the Hill,” he said.

“He was speaking to staying in touch with your constituents, … making sure you’re doing the regular communications as well as [recognizing] that there’s oftentime nuances to policymaking and that it takes time,” Rep. Haley Stevens of Michigan, who worked in the Obama administration, told the paper.

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