AOC first Democrat to indicate ‘no’ vote on debt bill

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) became the first Democrat to indicate she would vote against President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) debt ceiling bill Tuesday.

Ocasio-Cortez told the Washington Examiner’s Reese Gorman that she would be voting against the debt ceiling bill. She also said that she believed other progressive Democrats would follow her lead, possibly opening up the floodgates of opposition to the bill in Congress. Several progressive Democrats have taken issue with the spending cuts toward social programs that McCarthy was able to push through in negotiations with Biden.

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“I’m a no,” Ocasio-Cortez told Gorman when asked how she felt about the bill.

“I appreciate coming together … to avoid default, but I also think it’s very important that Kevin McCarthy, this is his deal. He needs to own it, and he needs to get votes for it,” she said.

Ocasio-Cortez added that she believes her fellow progressives will also vote against the bill, though she is the first to indicate her position publicly.

The New York Democrat has been highly critical of the debt ceiling negotiations, accusing Republicans of taking the economy “hostage.” When the deal was unveiled, she ramped up her criticism, taking issue with the cutting of funds for social services.

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Her sentiment on Tuesday, pushing McCarthy to get enough votes from his own party, comes after a similar sentiment she expressed last week.

“Why would anyone act like Kevin McCarthy has votes right now? He hasn’t done the work,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. “He doesn’t have the votes for his current proposal in the Senate. He doesn’t have the votes in the House. He doesn’t even have the votes in *his own party.* & GOP are starting to feel that.”