Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Monday smacked down progressive darling Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's (D-NY) claims that another Wuhan coronavirus relief package has yet to take place because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell dismissed the chamber.
What AOC fails to mention is that Republicans have repeatedly tried to get another relief package passed but Democrats keep stalling.
People across the country are going hungry, COVID is set to explode, and Mitch McConnell dismissed the Senate last week.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 23, 2020
I don’t know how these people can sleep at night. I really don’t.
Why is your party filibustering $500 billion in COVID relief?
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) November 23, 2020
And Joe Biden is cheering them on. Thinking that blocking relief somehow helps Dems win Georgia. https://t.co/b8PvuUpSa3
What's crazy is AOC's so-called "clap back" was that the House doesn't have filibusters. We all know that. We're not talking about the House though. We're talking about the Senate, where things are being held up because Democrats aren't getting the liberal wish list.
The House doesn’t have filibusters, @tedcruz.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 23, 2020
We also passed several COVID relief packages to the Senate that not only include >$500 billion, but also prioritize helping real people as opposed to Wall St bailouts the GOP tries to pass off as “relief.”
Nice try though ???? https://t.co/X4YIdiXh5y
I hope someone else runs Cruz’s Twitter account because it’d be pretty embarrassing if a US Senator didn’t know this.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 23, 2020
Almost as embarrassing as when Sen. @JohnCornyn didn’t appear to know that Puerto Ricans don’t get to vote in the Presidential
.@AOC seems not to know there are Democrats in the Senate.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) November 24, 2020
Or that Joe Biden (also a Dem) is publicly calling on Senate Dems to continue filibustering COVID relief because he thinks it will help them win Georgia. https://t.co/vy5HG3h2qr
AOC's rebuttal: Republicans need to work harder to garner Democrats' votes. They've tried that. Multiple times. And we're still no closer to a package.
You know in the House, when we don’t have the votes to pass something, we work on the bill until we pick up the votes to pass it. That includes GOP votes - & yes, GOP have voted for my leg too.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 24, 2020
The Senate should try it sometime! People are going hungry as you tweet from vacay. https://t.co/INdMqmx1xr
Let's review, shall we?
Democrats refused to pass the latest Wuhan coronavirus relief package at the end of October which would have provided $16 billion for coronavirus testing, $105 billion for schools, $31 billion for vaccine creation and $15 billion for child care. They did the same thing in September and refuse to negotiate with Republicans. The reason Senate Democrats refuse to approve the bill is because of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Even though she and McConnell came to an agreement, when it came time to vote, Senate Democrats said no. And that's because Pelosi took issue with the bill's language.
"Instead of recognizing the need for a strategic plan, they have changed words including 'shall' to 'may,' 'requirement' to 'recommendation,' and 'strategic plan' to 'strategy.' These changes make the funding a slush fund for the Administration which “may” grant or withhold rather than a prescribed, funded plan to crush the virus," Pelosi said in a letter to her colleagues.
Americans don't care whose fault it is that another relief package hasn't been passed. They simply want the relief.