Ocasio-Cortez warns Senate Democrats over advancing stopgap spending measure

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) urged her Democratic colleagues in the Senate to vote against the House-passed stopgap spending measure, warning them to be weary of "procedural games."

“It should be very clear to every Senate Democrat that any vote for Cloture will also be considered a vote for the bill," Ocasio-Cortez posted on social platform X. "People aren’t going to be tricked with procedural games."

“They know exactly what is going on," she added. "Defend Medicaid. Vote NO on Cloture. NO on bill."

The New York lawmaker's words echo the rhetoric of fellow party members who have encouraged their counterparts to wipe out the Republicans’ spending bill, despite leeriness from those in the upper chamber so close to the March 14 deadline to avert a shutdown. It also comes after congressional Democrats unveiled their own package Monday that would fund the government through April.

“This is a bad bill. We did not negotiate this bill," Rep. Pete Aguilar (Calif.), chair of the House Democratic Caucus, said of the GOP-led package. "They did not negotiate this bill."

“In the interest of our national security, in the interest of American families, they need to vote no and beat back this bill,” he added.

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) has already agreed to back the bill, introduced by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) over the past weekend, which reduces nondefense spending by billions with cuts to health care and research grants, in an effort to avoid a lapse in funding.

“We don't agree with what's been sent to us but, you know, if we withhold our votes, that is going to shut the government down," Fetterman told host Stephanie Ruhle on MSNBC Tuesday evening.

"And I think that's one of our core responsibilities in the Senate or in the government here, to not ever ... allow the government to shut down,” he added.

Rep. Jared Golden (Maine) seemingly agreed with the Pennsylvania senator, prompting him to stand as the single House Democrat to vote in favor of the spending bill.

Rep. Katherine Clark (Mass.), the Democratic whip, said lawmakers' vote on the bill shows a lot about their top priorities for the 119th Congress.

“This is one of these votes that shows: whose side are you on? Are you fighting for the folks at home? Are you fighting for the things like public schools, for our Veterans Administration?" said Clark, who is expecting a desolate vote from the Senate.

“So I don’t know why a Democrat would look at this and decide they want to be on that side of the ledger. I think we, as House Democrats, have sent a very strong message," she added. "You don’t go after people’s health care. You don’t go after research.”

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