AOC Won't Vote for Infrastructure Bill 'Unless I Get Some New Information'
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez isn't yet on board with House Democratic leaders' plan to hold a vote Thursday on a bipartisan infrastructure package.
Ahead of a House Democratic Caucus meeting, the New York Democrat told reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday that she'd be a "no" vote on the measure "unless I get some new information here."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced this week she will move forward with a vote on the $1.2 trillion bill for road, bridge, broadband and other "hard infrastructure" improvements—a reversal of her demand that Senate Democrats come together on a framework for a separate $3.5 trillion spending package to expand the social safety net and address climate change.
Pelosi held a meeting with Democrats on Monday night and again Tuesday morning to promote her plan to forge ahead, despite pushback from some progressive members of the caucus who have questioned whether they will have enough details about the Senate's plans before voting.
"Our president has said, 'I will support the infrastructure—whatever we can do it in a bipartisan way—but I will not confine my vision for the future to whatever that bipartisan infrastructure will be. We will go forward with reconciliation.' And we will," Pelosi told reporters at the Capitol after Tuesday's meeting. "In the next day or so, we hope to come to a place where we can move forward on that."
Pelosi said she believes there is strong support among House and Senate Democrats for the more "transformative" programs in the larger bill.
"It's a pretty exciting time," Pelosi said. "It's a very big agenda, and it is transformative."
The infrastructure bill passed overwhelmingly in the Senate last month with bipartisan support, but the Senate hasn't yet outlined plans for the larger spending package, with key members still on the fence about the price tag.
Progressive Democrats have threatened to tank the bipartisan infrastructure bill without clearer progress or agreement on a framework, including a dollar figure and protections for key priorities.
Biden is scheduled to meet Tuesday with Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, two conservative Democrats who have spoken out against the $3.5 trillion price tag on the spending package, known as the "reconciliation" bill, because it relies on a procedural tactic that would allow it to pass in the Senate with a simple majority.
Democrats have begun to move away from the dollar figure, focusing instead on the new programs that it will provide.
"For us, in the reconciliation bill, it's about the priorities that are getting funded and specific policies that we have put forward, and how significant the funding for those programs is going to be," Representative Ilhan Omar, a progressive Democrat from Minnesota, told reporters Monday night.
