As you read last evening, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi abandoned her foolish fight over the border crisis relief bill, "reluctantly" agreeing to approve the Senate's bipartisan legislation. House Democrats had been playing games over President Trump's (New York Times-endorsed) $4.5 billion supplemental budget request for humanitarian aid and logistical support at the Souther border, stripping it out of previous legislation before finally passing a partisan and landmine-filled version of their own earlier this week. The upper chamber, meanwhile, hammered out a reasonable compromise, which was supported by the president. Mitch McConnell put the House-passed bill on the floor for an up-or-down vote, and it fell by a wide margin. A subsequent vote on the bipartisan Senate bill succeeded, 84-8. With the writing on the wall, Pelosi faced a public insurrection from her more moderate members, was jammed into to calling an abrupt recess under smart tactical pressure from the GOP, and ultimately backed down. None of this sat well with New York freshman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who uncorked a furious tweet storm, packed with ignorant, misleading, and false statements:
Under no circumstances should the House vote for a McConnell-only bill w/ no negotiation with Democrats. Hell no.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 27, 2019
That’s an abdication of power we should refuse to accept. They will keep hurting kids if we do.
His Senate bill is a militarization bill. McConnell killed the House Bill & dropped this one right before recess to force passage.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 27, 2019
Well, too bad. This is our job. Cancel vacation, fly the Senate in. Pass a clean humanitarian bill & stop trying to squeeze crises for more pain.
(1) This "McConnell only" bill was co-written by Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Pat Leahy (D-VT). It won 84 percent of Senators' votes.
(2) The "no negotiation with Democrats" is patently false, as evidenced by Leahy's co-sponsorship and explicit endorsement, as well as the support of more than half of the Senate Democratic caucus -- including Chuck Schumer.
(3) McConnell "killed" the House bill by bringing it up for a vote. It failed to attract even 40 Senators' support. And guess who voted against that very same House bill? That's right: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
(4) As for "hurting kids," AOC is on the record opposing all proposed legislative solutions to the border crisis. She voted against each bill put forward -- and as I just mentioned, was one of just four Democrats (along with her radical pals Omar and Tlaib) to break with Pelosi on the House bill whose Senate demise she's now cynically lamenting. She has encouraged boycotts and collective action against a private company fulfilling a government contractor's order to provide more beds to children she claims to want to help. Relatedly, she'd absolutely fume and fulminate over images of those same kids sleeping on floors, having agitated against beds for them. Will she also rail against the food service providers feeding these children? After all, they're also "complicit" under her twisted rationale.
(5) Would Ms. Ocasio-Cortez care to offer a workable solution under which the US government treats these children humanely, while also (a) respecting existing legal requirements regarding the detainment of unlawful immigrants, (b) allowing for proper vetting of adult asylum seekers (without separating real and claimed families), and (c) not actively encouraging more illegal entries? I'll wait. Meanwhile, she also quadrupled down on her "concentration camps" smear and supporting lies, defying rebukes from Holocaust historians and survivors. It's almost as if she's a reckless blowhard. I'll leave you with this:
A senior democratic aide: “Schumer threw all of House Democrats under the bus and he will pay a heavy price for that.”
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) June 27, 2019
This is in reference to the large senate dem vote total on the border bill. It forced pelosis hand.