To our NY-14 community,
This week, President Biden will sign into law a bill to invest in physical infrastructure in our country. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez voted against this bill on Friday. Why? By advancing the infrastructure bill without its companion legislation — the Build Back Better Act — we fear Congress may have jeopardized immigration reform, funding for NYCHA and any chance to meaningfully address climate change.
How did we get here? In the Spring, President Biden presented his domestic agenda. After negotiations with Republicans, his agenda was largely split into two bills: the infrastructure bill and the Build Back Better Act (BBB). Democratic leaders in Congress, along with the Progressive Caucus, decided that in order to ensure passage of both bills, the two bills should be voted on at the same time.
Why did the infrastructure bill and BBB need to pass together? Conservative Democrats really supported the infrastructure bill, but do not support some of what’s in BBB - including paid leave, lowered prescription drug costs, and many climate change provisions. Conversely, progressives felt strongly that the infrastructure bill didn't do enough and that we needed to pass BBB so we could deliver the President's entire agenda and fulfill long-held promises around affordable housing, climate change, childcare and healthcare.
So, essentially, the deal for all of this Summer and Fall was that progressive Democrats would vote for an infrastructure bill, if conservative Democrats would vote for BBB. But this past Friday, the White House and House leadership changed their strategy. Negotiations around these two bills had been ongoing for months, and leadership decided they wanted the infrastructure bill to pass on its own so Democrats could claim some sort of victory after tough election results in Virginia and elsewhere.
But the calculus for our community did not change. We could not risk that immigration reform, funding for NYCHA, climate change provisions and so many other important priorities would not be passed. So the Congresswoman stuck to her word and voted against the infrastructure bill, in order to try to keep these two bills tied together. She was always prepared to vote for the infrastructure bill alongside BBB, but she could not support the infrastructure bill on its own and risk losing our only leverage for policies in the BBB that NY-14 so badly needs.
The President and House leadership has promised that BBB will still pass. We hope they’re right, but how much of the bill survives now that we’ve given away so much leverage is the question.
We’ve included more on what’s in the infrastructure bill and the Build Back Better Agenda below (along with some other announcements). Also, we want to encourage you to reach out to your office to share your opinion on any legislation pending before Congress. The Congresswoman takes her constituents’ feedback very seriously when deciding how to vote. You can contact us at 718-662-5970 or by email.