Like most of her Democratic Party colleagues, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is furious over how much President Joe Biden has agreed to concede in the debt ceiling agreement with House Republicans and GOP Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Just ahead of the agreement, which raises the debt ceiling for about two years, Ocasio-Cortez — who is a huge advocate for wild spending sprees — was seen at the podium in our nation’s capital excoriating McCarthy for not conceding to everything the Democrats wanted in the debt ceiling debate.
“I want to reiterate one point,” Ocasio-Cortez said on Wednesday, three days before Biden folded and gave Speaker McCarthy a victory on the debt ceiling. “The reason why anyone is asking anyone on this stage about what we would vote for is because Kevin McCarthy needs our votes. Because Kevin McCarthy doesn’t have the votes. Because Kevin McCarthy is going to the White House without a majority of his caucus.”
“He does not have what is necessary to negotiate. And for any, any question about what anybody would settle for, he has a responsibility to concede,” she added.
“So, if he wants any Democratic support, he has to come to the table. And we have seen him over and over again say that he will not negotiate. That they are engaged in hostage taking, not negotiation, extortion, not conversation,” she angrily continued. “And that is not something we can establish, it is not something we can reinforce in this country.”
Rep @AOC: “@SpeakerMcCarthy has responsibility to concede. So if he wants any Democratic support, he has to come to the table & we have seen him over & over again say that he will not negotiate, that they’re engaged in hostage taking, not negotiation. Extortion, not conversation” pic.twitter.com/5niqk0Qb1C
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) May 24, 2023
“The proposal that we see on this table right now that Kevin McCarthy and the Republican caucus have put down has been an absolute rejection of the same reckless tax cuts that were passed in 2017 that we said at the time would explode the debt ratio, that would explode the deficit,” the ethics challenged New Yorker said.
“And now, several years later, we are in this scenario. And instead of them recognizing the error of their ways, they want to protect tax cuts on yachts and private jets and make single moms pay for it,” she added. “And that’s where we say no. That’s when we say the American people did not elect House Progressives so that we can lay back while people’s food benefits are cut. We’re here to fight for working families. And so this is the last caucus to ask what are we going to give up in terms of people’s food, in terms of people’s healthcare, in terms of veterans. And the time is now to ask the Republican caucus why they are valuing billionaires over veterans and single mothers.”
Should the gov’t raise the debt ceiling?
Yes: 0% (0 Votes)
No: 100% (1 Votes)
“This is shameful,” the New York “squad” member exclaimed, “we can put an end to it, and it only takes five of the 18 Republicans that are in Biden-carried seats,” she insisted.
Ocasio-Cortez’s many proclamations in that little sound clip, though, are incorrect. Republicans have been uncharacteristically united on McCarthy’s negotiations on the debt ceiling debate, not fractured as Ocasio-Cortez tried to claim. And, not only that, but her central point that tax cuts drive up the federal debt has never been true, despite the constant claim by Democrats that they do. The only thing that drives up the federal debt is a rise in government spending.
Her plea, though seems to have fallen on deaf ears in the White House as on Saturday evening, McCarthy announced that he had struck a deal on the debt ceiling with Biden in which Biden gave up a long list of concessions.
I just got off the phone with the president a bit ago. After he wasted time and refused to negotiate for months, we’ve come to an agreement in principle that is worthy of the American people.
I’ll deliver a statement at 9:10pm ET. Watch here:https://t.co/vmn31INPH5
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) May 28, 2023
Republicans have noted that the deal Biden agreed to stops out-of-control inflationary spending, cancels billions in unspent COVID funds, begins to reign in the president’s executive overreach, cuts red tape in the energy sector, lifts Americans from poverty with new work requirements for assistance benefits, slashes Biden’s funding for 87,000 new IRS agents, blocks tax hikes, and protects seniors, veterans, and national security.
The deal even brought former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich to applaud McCarthy for a “dramatic victory.”
The Debt limit deal is a dramatic victory for Speaker McCarthy and House Republicans. Before they passed their history changing bill no one would have believed it possible to cut spending, reestablish work requirements, reform permitting for energy and infrastructure and more
— Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) May 28, 2023
Not everyone on the right is celebrating, though. Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon blasted the agreement as a “total surrender” to Biden, said McCarthy is “not really a leader,” and insisted that there would be a “vacate to motion” filed if the bill passes the House.
🚨 Steve Bannon Blasts McCarthy’s ‘Total Surrender’ to Biden on Debt Limit @AndrewStanton
Read full statement by Steve Bannon this morning:
Bannon Is said a “vacate to motion” will likely be brought up against McCarthy if the bill passes, and that the negotiations show the… pic.twitter.com/Bd9llnZSQN
— Grace Chong 🇺🇸 (@gc22gc) May 28, 2023
McCarthy said the House will vote on the debt ceiling bill on Wednesday, which will give the U.S. Senate a bit of breathing room to get their part done by the June 5 deadline set by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the Associated Press reported.
Ahead of this weekend’s break in the logjam, Biden was faced with bad news on his obstinate stance on the debt ceiling debate. A poll conducted last week found that 60 percent of respondents thought that Congress should only be raising the debt ceiling if the deal is accompanied by spending cuts. That is a point that completely ran against Biden’s decision to refuse to allow any spending cuts at all.
Clearly, despite AOC’s proclamation that it was McCarthy that doesn’t have the support for his stance on the issue, it is, rather, her side that has no support. And she isn’t taking it very well.
