Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that there were “more than enough” votes to prevent the bipartisan infrastructure bill from passing the House without the much larger bill that Democrats want to pass with the reconciliation process.
Anchor Jake Tapper said, “You just heard Joe Manchin a few moments ago talk about the reconciliation bill, $3.5 trillion. He said he can’t give him any guarantee it would pass the Senate. what’s your response to that?”
Ocasio-Cortez said, “These deals on infrastructure that have gone out are not just bipartisan, but they were bicameral…It was made very clear at the beginning of this process that this bipartisan deal if it even survives the Senate, the only chance that it has at passing the House is if the House passes the Senate bill and if the Senate passes the House bill, which is largely in reconciliation. So we can’t just have one body driving the entire legislative agenda for the country and, frankly, 20 senators within that one body. So we need a reconciliation bill if we want this bipartisan bill to pass.”
She continued, “We have to hold on to that bargain. If there is not a reconciliation bill in the House and if the Senate does not pass a reconciliation bill, we will uphold our end of the bargain and not pass the bipartisan bill until we get all of these investments in.”
Tapper asked, “How many House progressives do you think are with you on that?”
Ocasio-Cortez said, “The total amount is about 90. I am not the whip of the Progressive Caucus but what I can tell you is that it’s certainly more than three. And it is in the double digits, absolutely.”
Tapper asked, “Enough to prevent it from passing?”
Ocasio-Cortez replied, “More than enough.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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