A handful of Democrats and Republicans bucked their respective parties in the House vote Friday to pass the $1.7 trillion “omnibus” bill stuffed with all sorts of pork according to critics.
These defectors collectively did little to change the results. By a 225-201 vote, the massive spending legislation cleared the lower chamber and now heads to President Joe Biden, who says he will sign it into law. The 4,155-page bill, which features $858 billion in defense funding, as well as $772.5 billion for non-defense “discretionary programs,” already passed the Senate on Thursday.
On the Democratic Party side, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was the sole “no” vote, though a fellow member of “The Squad,” Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), also stood out, voting “present” — by proxy.
In a statement, Ocasio-Cortez cited spending for the Homeland Security Department and its Immigration and Customs Enforcement sub-agency as well as the omnibus’ significant commitment to national security as her reasons for opposing the legislation.
“I campaigned on a promise to my constituents: to oppose additional expansion for ICE and DHS — particularly in the absence of long-overdue immigration reform,” the leftist firebrand said. “For that reason, as well as the dramatic increase in defense spending with exceeds even President Biden’s request, I voted no on today’s omnibus bill.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez released the following statement following her ‘no’ vote on the omnibus spending bill: pic.twitter.com/90HZhhDbCt
— Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@RepAOC) December 23, 2022
Although she opposed the overall bill, Ocasio-Cortez defended certain “victories” achieved during negotiations, including “significant funding” for more than a dozen community projects in her district that includes the Bronx and Queens.
Her statement was met with some chiding in light of the congresswoman responding Thursday to a Twitter thread from the office of Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) that highlighted $3,000,000 for “clean energy workforce development” at the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority as a “pet project” of Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY).
“Thank you for calling attention to my ‘pet project’ of making New York State a global leader in combating climate change and creating tons of good, high-paying jobs for people in the process,” Ocasio-Cortez retorted. “I’m proud of it!”
Thank you for calling attention to my “pet project” of making New York State a global leader in combating climate change and creating tons of good, high-paying jobs for people in the process. I’m proud of it! 🌎🗽
What’s your pet project? Being a hater for a living? https://t.co/VkpBLQyNdu
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 22, 2022
After her “no” vote on Friday, Washington Free Beacon investigative reporter Chuck Ross quipped, “AOC was for the omnibus before she was against it.”
AOC was for the omnibus before she was against it https://t.co/pdY17mjvCu
— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) December 23, 2022
Siraj Hashmi, a member of The Habibi Bros political podcast and creator of “The List” (which ridicules Twitter users for what it deems to be cringeworthy tweets), shared a screenshot of a tweet noting AOC was the only Democratic “no” vote and asked, “this u?”
this u? pic.twitter.com/f7nB1qc5Ci
— siraj hashmi (@SirajAHashmi) December 23, 2022
Nine Republicans broke ranks with the rest of their party on Friday, voting with the vast majority of Democrats to pass the spending bill.
These defectors were Reps. Liz Cheney (R-WY), Rodney Davis (R-IL), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA), Chris Jacobs (R-NY), John Katko (R-NY), Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), Fred Upton (R-MI), and Steve Womack (R-AR).
In addition, Four Republicans declined to vote. They were Reps. Ken Buck (R-CO), Mike Gallagher (R-WI), Trey Hollingsworth (R-IN), and David McKinley (R-WV).