Freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) blasted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to cave to Republicans in a feud over border funding.
With time running out to address the humanitarian crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border, Pelosi gave up on fighting for a House border funding bill that would have required immigration agents to follow certain standards when handling migrants and blocked funding for immigration enforcement. Instead, Pelosi threw her weight Thursday behind a bi-partisan Senate bill that also provided resources for migrants, but without many of the progressives’ demands.
“Under no circumstances”
“Under no circumstances should the House vote for a McConnell-only bill w/ no negotiation with Democrats,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted Thursday. “Hell no,” she continued. “That’s an abdication of power we should refuse to accept. They will keep hurting kids if we do.”
Pelosi’s decision paved the way for the Senate bill’s passage, with roughly half of Pelosi’s caucus voting either way. Ocasio-Cortez echoed many progressives when she called Pelosi’s decision a surrender to Republicans, particularly Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Ocasio-Cortez suggested that Democrats could stay through part of the July 4 recess to fight for their desired amendments.
“We have time. We can stay in town. We can at LEAST add some amendments to this Senate bill. But to pass it completely unamended with no House input? That seems a bridge too far.”
This Senate Bill will have us write a $4.6 Billion blank check (incl military $) for the border w NO accountability – just a verbal pinky promise.
Trump is not to be trusted with protecting our immigrants. Why must that even be stated? We need hard lines of protection, in ink. https://t.co/xFci23pFo6
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 27, 2019
Pelosi “reluctantly” passes Senate bill
Pelosi passed the House’s version Tuesday, which called for safety standards on the treatment of migrants, a limit on how long unaccompanied migrant children can stay in emergency shelters, and no funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The liberal bill passed the House Tuesday but ran into a brick wall in the Senate, which passed its more moderate version with an 84-8 majority on Wednesday. Pelosi initially put up a fight for the House version, but by Thursday she said she would “reluctantly” support the so-called “McConnell bill,” citing the urgent need to deliver resources for children in overcrowded shelters.
“In order to get resources to the children fastest, we will reluctantly pass the Senate bill,” Pelosi wrote her colleagues, adding that she wouldn’t use the same “disrespectful behavior” as McConnell in “ignoring our priorities.”
While Pelosi sought to pass the buck to McConnell, many progressives in her party were not so quick to excuse Pelosi and the rest of the Democratic party leaders. Some Democrats blamed Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for allowing the “McConnell bill” to pass the Senate with a bi-partisan majority in the first place.
Pelosi lost the high ground after the bi-partisan vote, and her resistance quickly unraveled as moderate Democrats, wary of delaying care for migrants, began to defect to the Republican side. Media reports of a father and his toddler dying while crossing the border added urgency for Congress to act.
Caucus split
Pelosi’s decision tore her caucus in half, as many progressives, echoing Ocasio-Cortez, expressed concern that the Senate bill provided no guarantees that the Trump administration would not “misuse” the funding. The Senate bill included money for ICE and excluded many of the progressives’ desired provisions.
“I do not believe we should be throwing more money to ICE,” Ocasio-Cortez told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “The Lead.” “My district is 50% immigrant. I have an obligation and responsibility to protect them. I believe what we should ideally be doing is passing a pure humanitarian bill to get money straight to the kids.”
Some of the most outspoken freshmen progressives in Pelosi’s caucus, including Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) agreed.
“We’ve sent money that we don’t know if it’s going to continue to be used to put proper beds, to buy toothpaste, to assist these children in any kind of way and their families,” Omar said.
This is far from the first time Pelosi has upset Ocasio-Cortez and other progressives in her caucus. The Speaker has had to navigate a delicate divide between moderates and progressives in her party on various issues, especially impeachment.
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