The votes against a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill by New York progressive Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., infuriated some of their constituents.
The legislation will bring in more than $100 billion to New York to fix crumbling infrastructure in both New York City and around the state, the New York Post reported.
"New York needs this money," Harlem business owner Sidibe Ibrahima, and a Democrat, told the news outlet.
"The fact that [AOC] had her own community impacted by the floods, how are you going to go against an infrastructure bill? She should think about the people who voted for her."
Some of the Queens and Bronx district Ocasio-Cortez represents was underwater during severe weather events this year, the news outlet reported, and at least 18 New Yorkers died in flash floods caused Hurricane Ida.
Cash to upgrade the city's sewers and drainage systems to prevent similar catastrophes is included in the infrastructure bill, the news outlet reported.
"I don't know why she voted against it," Michael Goodman, a retired college professor who lives in Manhattan, told the news outlet. "For decades New York has given more money than they've gotten back. Politics is the art of compromise. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."
Bowman and Ocasio-Cortez were among six Democrats who said "no" to the bill. The others were fellow progressives dubbed the "Squad" — Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Cori Bush, D-Miss.
The "no" vote lawmakers also got flak on social media.
One critic tweeted:
"Either they're chaos agents and seriously politically inept. I don't see any other alternatives."
Another critic wrote:
"Disappointed in my congressman, whose track record to date I've been very proud of. America needed this bill. To vote no is to play more political football with the lives of the American people at large."
"I think she did her district a disservice," Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., told the news outlet. "New York City benefits more than any other part of the country. It's all hard infrastructure and all things that we desperately need."
Malliotakis was one of the few Republicans to vote in favor of the bill, joining other New York GOP lawmakers, including Reps. John Katko, Tom Reed, and Andrew Garbarino.
Progressives had originally hoped to tie the infrastructure legislation to the more expansive social-spending Build Back Better bill.
Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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