
Progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) laid into her Senate counterparts for failing to heed her warning just hours before on CNN.
Ocasio-Cortez begged Democrats to reject the House GOP’s stopgap funding bill, calling it a “bad idea” and a “mistake” if Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) votes for cloture.
“I believe that’s a tremendous mistake,” she told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Thursday afternoon, pointing to contentious town halls that GOP lawmakers have experienced in recent weeks as evidence that Americans do not support the MAGA agenda. “American people, whether they are Republicans, independents, Democrats, are up in arms about Elon Musk and the actual gutting of federal agencies across the board.”
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Despite her public plea, news dropped shortly thereafter that Schumer would not hold up a vote on cloture for the GOP bill. He said that while the continuing resolution is bad, “allowing Donald Trump to take more power via a government shutdown is a worse option,” Semafor’s Burgess Everett reported.
And Ocasio-Cortez was none too pleased with the news.
“There are members of Congress who have won Trump held districts in some of the most difficult territories in the United States; who walked the plank and took innumerable risks in order to defend the American people…just to see some Senate Democrats even consider acquiescing to Elon Musk. I think it is a huge slap in the face, and I think that there’s a wide sense of betrayal,” she told reporters according to Semafor’s Kadia Goba.
Democrats have said they oppose the continuing resolution for several reasons, including that they were snubbed from input and that the bill slashes non-defense domestic spending by billions of dollars while increasing military expenditures. They say it also empowers President Donald Trump and DOGE head Elon Musk to dismantle parts of the federal government or ignore congressional spending directives.
Many Democrats, including Ocasio-Cortez, have expressed support for a short-term, 30-day stopgap measure to allow the federal government to remain open, as well as allow time for further negotiations.