New York City voters slammed far-left U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez this Saturday. This occurred after she backed five other progressive Democrats in voting against a comprehensive $1.2 trillion construction measure passed by the House late Friday.
Democrats left scratching their heads
Michael Goodman, who is a former university lecturer, said to the New York Post, “I don’t know why she voted against this. New York has provided more cash than it has received for decades. Politics is the art of reaching an agreement. In the jungle, a bird in the hand is worth two.”
“This money is needed in New York,” Sidibe Ibrahima, a Democrat who lives in the city, told the newspaper. “How the f*ck are you going to oppose an infrastructure bill when [AOC] had her own neighborhood damaged by the floods? She ought to consider the individuals who voted for her.”
Proud to cast my vote in support of the largest infrastructure bill in decades on my second day as Congresswoman.
— Rep. Shontel Brown (@RepShontelBrown) November 6, 2021
Ibrahima was alluding to Hurricane Ida’s devastation on most of the East in September, notably Ocasio-Cortez’s congressional area, which includes elements of New York City’s Bronx, as well as Queens districts.
According to the Washington Post, the bill (which was approved on a 228-206 majority late Friday, with 13 conservatives voting in favor) includes cash for sewer and drainage repairs to help prevent floods.
According to the paper, Ocasio-Cortez, 32, who is serving her second term of office in Congress, justified her vote in an Instagram Live video. She said passing the infrastructure bill puts the more costly Build Back Better security measure (which she and some other liberals support) in jeopardy.
“My primary concern is we just tied in the United States to grow its climate emissions,” AOC stated. “At the time, I didn’t feel I had the guarantees I needed to vote to raise US climate pollution in exchange for an IOU.”
GOP @RepDonBacon on voting for the infrastructure bill: "I thought it was good for our district, I thought it was good for our country. […] I thought it was an easy vote in August when it passed the Senate. For some reason, we wanted to make it harder." pic.twitter.com/Tv0154c6zw
— The Hill (@thehill) November 7, 2021
Trump Destroys AOC
Former President Trump made a veiled dig at Ocasio-Cortez on Friday, referring to the liberals’ policy agenda as the “Green New Deal bill,” an allusion to her prominent list of climate promises.
U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (a Brooklyn congresswoman and one of 13 Republicans who defied the GOP and voted in favor of the Democrats’ proposal) was also critical of Ocasio-Cortez’s “no” vote.
“I believe she did an injustice to her district,” Malliotakis said to the Post. “New York City, more than almost any other city in the country, benefits the most. It’s all hard construction, and it’s all stuff we urgently require.”
In contrast to Malliotakis, three additional Republican members from New York State were among the 13 Republican dissenters. According to the New York Post, the infrastructure plan may bring in as much as $170 billion to the predominantly blue state of New York.
During her first tenure, Ocasio-Cortez was criticized in her home city for opposing an Amazon deal that might have delivered 25,000 jobs to the area, calling the package’s tax benefits a “corporate gift.”
