Legislators from both the Democrat and Republican sides of the aisle chose to go against their respective parties in the House for a vote this past Friday in efforts to push through the $1.7 trillion “omnibus” bill willed with all kinds of pork according to critics.
These politicians that have swapped sides for the vote collectively did quite little to alter the results. As seen in a 225-201 vote, the bloated spending bill made it through the lower chamber and now heads up to Old Uncle Joe who has claimed that he will officially sign it into law. The massive bill sporting a 4,155-page count, which features $858 billion in defense funding, as well as $772.5 billion for non-defense “discretionary programs” has already made it through the Senate the previous Thursday.
When looking at the Democrat side of the aisle, the most prominent aisle crosser was none other than Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) who held the title of the sole “no” vote for Democrats, though another “The Squad” member, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), made smaller waves by just voting as “present.”
In a release, AOC highlighted that the spending for both the Department of Homeland Security, along with its Immigration and Customs Enforcement sub-agency, and its omnibus’ significant commitment to national security as her reasons for opposing the legislation.
“I campaigned on a promise to my constituents: to oppose additional expansion for ICE and DHS — particularly in the absence of long-overdue immigration reform,” claimed the extreme-left politician. “For that reason, as well as the dramatic increase in defense spending with exceeds even President Biden’s request, I voted no on today’s omnibus bill.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez released the following statement following her ‘no’ vote on the omnibus spending bill: pic.twitter.com/90HZhhDbCt
— Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@RepAOC) December 23, 2022
Despite her stance in opposition to the bill as a whole, AOC defended a number of “victories” secured throughout negotiations, including “significant funding” for well over a dozen community projects in her district that includes both Queens and the Bronx.
Her comment was met with a bit of criticism due to the congresswoman responding this past Thursday to a thread on social media from the office of Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) which highlighted close to $3,000,000 for “clean energy workforce development” for the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority” as what they are calling a “pet project” for both Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and AOC.
“Thank you for calling attention to my ‘pet project’ of making New York State a global leader in combating climate change and creating tons of good, high-paying jobs for people in the process,” fired back AOC. “I’m proud of it!”
Thank you for calling attention to my “pet project” of making New York State a global leader in combating climate change and creating tons of good, high-paying jobs for people in the process. I’m proud of it! 🌎🗽
What’s your pet project? Being a hater for a living? https://t.co/VkpBLQyNdu
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 22, 2022
In the wake of her “no” vote, Chuck Ross, a reporter for the Washington Free Beacon, stated, “AOC was for the omnibus before she was against it.”
AOC was for the omnibus before she was against it https://t.co/pdY17mjvCu
— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) December 23, 2022