J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo
- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez cited "trust" issues in opposing the bipartisan infrastructure bill.
- The congresswoman lamented that the bipartisan bill was decoupled from the reconciliation framework.
- Ocasio-Cortez remains critical of House moderates for requesting a CBO score for the social spending bill.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Saturday pointed to her mistrust of the legislative process in explaining her 'no' vote for President Joe Biden's $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, a position that made her among only six Democratic lawmakers to oppose one of the party's signature priorities.
The two-term New York Democrat took to Instagram in an hourlong conversation and stressed that while her intentions are to advance Biden's legislative priorities, she was uncomfortable with what she saw as shifting procedural moves that effectively decoupled the bipartisan bill from the larger Democratic-led reconciliation package known as the Build Back Better Act.
For months, progressives have called on House leadership to place both bills on the floor for a vote at the same time, while moderates pushed for a vote on the bipartisan bill – without tying it to the larger bill.
Moderates eventually won out, with the bipartisan infrastructure bill passing the House on Friday in a 228-206 vote, aided by 13 Republicans crossing over to support the legislation – while progressives were assured that there would be a vote on the Build Back Better Act after the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scored the legislation to assuage Democratic fiscal hawks of the overall costs of the reconciliation blueprint.
However, Ocasio-Cortez was deeply dissatisfied with the legislative process, especially after months of firmly stating that both bills needed to be passed together.
"Throughout this process, people would say that within our caucus, one of the issues that we have had is trust. And trust is not built in the big moments. Trust is built in the little moments. Trust is built in process. I think one of the issues that we had yesterday, for example, is we had a commitment that we were going to vote on the rule to allow BBB [Build Back Better] to proceed first," she said.
"We were ready to vote on Build Back Better this week. At the very last minute, there was a group of people saying, 'All of sudden, we need a CBO score.' You're claiming that you don't want to let Build Back Better proceed unless you can get certainty on the deficit … [and] demand that you have a deficit-increase bill at the same time? It doesn't add up. It's weird. Something weird was going on," she added.
In her commentary, Ocasio-Cortez alluded to the handful of Democratic moderates who hold the key for final passage of the reconciliation bill - a list that includes Reps. Ed Case of Hawaii, Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, Stephanie Murphy of Florida, Kathleen Rice of New York, and Kurt Schrader of Oregon.
A CBO analysis of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which would appropriate long-sought funding for the nation's highways, bridges, and roads, projected that it would add $256 billion to the federal deficit over a decade.
The moderates worked with Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, the Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, to craft an agreement to support a vote on the $1.75 trillion social spending package after they received their requisite budget projections.
"We commit to voting for the Build Back Better Act, in its current form other than technical changes, as expeditiously as we receive fiscal information from the Congressional Budget Office - but in no event later than the week of November 15th," the group said in a statement on Friday.
The nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation and the White House both released reports last week projecting that the reconciliation bill would not exacerbate long-term deficits, but moderates pushed for a CBO score, which could take several weeks to produce.
Meanwhile, Ocasio-Cortez, along with fellow members of "The Squad" - Reps. Cori Bush of Missouri, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, and Jamaal Bowman of New York - all rejected the bipartisan infrastructure framework.
Nonetheless, the Bronx lawmaker congratulated Biden for getting the legislation across the finish and boosted the forthcoming reconciliation bill - despite paid-leave provisions being seriously curtailed - while also issuing a warning.
"It's already so stripped down, but there are still huge landmark investments in this [bill]. But if we don't deliver the Build Back Better Act on climate, we will have done virtually nothing," she said.