(NewsNation) — U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., on Thursday criticized Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for voicing his intent to vote for a Republican-sponsored budget bill to avoid a government shutdown, calling it a “deep sense of betrayal” to “this very dark time,” and a “slap in the face.”
“I cannot underscore enough how incorrect that is if they vote for the CR (continuing resolution),” the congresswoman told NewsNation. “… I think it is a huge slap in the face, and I think that there’s a wide sense of betrayal if things proceed as as currently planned
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Schumer’s support for a CR has angered a broad spectrum of the Democratic Party, and Schumer himself even called the legislation “terrible.” It’s the same bill that House Democrats almost unanimously opposed on Tuesday, in part because House Republicans would not negotiate with them.
Ocasio-Cortez said that Democrats have time to “correct course.”
“People think this is a left issue or right issue. It’s not. It’s genuinely not,” she told NewsNation. “This is about our values and what we stand for, and it’s about the right thing and the wrong thing, and we have time to correct course.”
The continuing resolution would mostly keep current funding levels through September but would add $6 billion for defense spending and cut $13 billion from nondefense programs. Democrats oppose these cuts, which they say would impact health care, veterans, housing, food programs and more.
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While the Senate is set to vote on the GOP legislation Friday before the midnight funding deadline, it’s not yet clear whether eight Senate Democrats will join their Republican colleagues and vote for it to pass. But Schumer’s announcement makes it more likely, muddies any sort of unified front and highlights a leadership vacuum in the party.
House Democratic leadership made clear their ire at Schumer’s announcement. Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., and caucus chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., released a joint statement late Thursday night saying they remain strongly opposed to “the far-right Republican funding bill,” one they say “will unleash havoc on everyday Americans, giving Donald Trump and Elon Musk even more power to continue dismantling the federal government.”
NewsNation affiliate The Hill contributed to this report.
