Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) was the solo House Democrat to vote against the nearly $500 billion coronavirus relief bill.
The $484 billion bill, Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act, passed by a 388-5 vote on Thursday in the House of Representatives. It includes funding to small businesses and hospitals. It will put $321 billion toward the Paycheck Protection Program, as well as $75 billion for hospitals and $25 billion to increase coronavirus testing.
There were five lawmakers who voted “nay” on the bill, including Ocasio-Cortez. The other four members of Congress were Republicans, Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Ken Buck (R-Colo.), Jody Hice (R-Ga.), and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.).
In defense of being the only House Democrat to vote against the bill, Ocasio-Cortez told reporters following the vote, “My concern is that we are giving away the farm.”
“I cannot go back to my communities and tell them to just wait for CARES four because we have now passed three, four pieces of legislation that’s related to coronavirus,” she added. “And every time it’s the next one, the next one, the next one, and my constituents are dying.”
She also said:
“My vote will be different today if we were planning on voting on CARES, tomorrow, or the week after that, in the next two weeks. But the problem is that this is not an interim bill. This is the only bill we are voting on for the entire month of April. This is the April coronavirus response, it is not an interim bill. It’s not interim for people whose rent was due in April, it’s not interim for the people whose rent is due next week.”
The New York lawmaker, however, noted how it was “not an easy vote.”
.@RepAOC @AOC: "It is a joke when Republicans say that they have urgency around this bill…you are not trying fix this bill for mom & pops. We have to fight to fund hospitals. Fighting to fund testing…It is unconscionable."
— CSPAN (@cspan) April 23, 2020
Full video here: https://t.co/IBennHJzF3 pic.twitter.com/1rx1e16Unr
The bill, H.R.266, is expected to be signed by President Donald Trump on Friday.
The state of New York has taken a hard hit amid the coronavirus pandemic, with more than 263,000 positive cases in the state and over 16,300 deaths in New York City alone, as of Friday morning. The U.S. has a total of at least 869,000 coronavirus cases, while Spain follows with at least 219,000 cases and Italy is reporting at least 189,000 cases.
