Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, said she and the other leftist “Squad” members of Congress would block the $1-trillion bipartisan infrastructure package if Senate Democrats refused to also pass a separate spending bill via a party-line vote.
“If there’s not a reconciliation bill in the House and if the Senate does not pass a reconciliation bill, we will uphold our end of the bargain and not pass the bipartisan bill until we get all of these investments,” she told CNN over the weekend.
Rep. @AOC on the bipartisan infrastructure deal: “If there is not a reconciliation bill in the House and if the Senate does not pass a reconciliation bill, we will uphold our end of the bargain and not pass the bipartisan bill until we get all of these investments in.” #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/QkUBYcbbra
— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) August 1, 2021
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., announced last week that she would not support Democrats’ proposed $3-trillion “infrastructure” proposal via the reconciliation process, and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-WV, also raised concerns about the cost of the bill.
In response, Ocasio-Cortez and the other progressives suggested Sinema and Manchin are racist for only supporting a bipartisan package that was drafted by white members of Congress.
“Good luck tanking your own party’s investment on childcare, climate action, and infrastructure while presuming you’ll survive a 3 vote House margin — especially after choosing to exclude members of color from negotiations and calling that a ‘bipartisan accomplishment,’” Ocasio-Cortez told Sinema via Twitter.
A lot of times, “bipartisan agreements” are just as defined by who people in power agree to exclude than include. pic.twitter.com/9o4y3j60fD
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 29, 2021
Is this the Bipartisan Infrastructure Group or the audience at a Kid Rock concert?#NegotiationsSoWhite pic.twitter.com/qxVw4ar9x5
— Cori Bush (@CoriBush) July 28, 2021