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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., slammed Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for announcing that he would vote for the House-passed funding measure to avoid a government shutdown.
While appearing on CNN's "The Lead with Jake Tapper" on Thursday, Ocasio-Cortez accused Schumer of capitulating to Republicans and billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) agenda with the Democratic Senate leader's pledge to vote for the measure.
"I believe that’s a tremendous mistake," she told Tapper.
CHUCK SCHUMER WILL VOTE TO KEEP GOVERNMENT OPEN: ‘FOR DONALD TRUMP, A SHUTDOWN WOULD BE A GIFT’
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., slammed Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for announcing he would vote for the House-passed government spending bill. (Screenshot/CNN)
Schumer announced his vote for the short-term spending bill, or continuing resolution (CR), on Thursday evening, stating that though he believes the "bill is very bad, the potential for a shutdown has consequences for America that are much, much worse."
The Democratic Party has been divided over whether to accept the CR or risk letting the government shut down. As of Thursday afternoon, multiple lawmakers, including Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., posted videos to inform social media that they were voting against the CR.
In a column for MSNBC, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., criticized the CR, stating it "gives Elon Musk and President Donald Trump even more flexibility to steal from the middle class, from seniors, from veterans, from working people, from small businesses and from farmers, all to pay for tax breaks for billionaires."
On the other hand, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., like Schumer, expressed that the priority in this situation is to keep the government open.
"Any party should never shut the government down," he told reporters, adding, "We can all agree that it's not a great CR, but that's where we are and that's the choice."
SCOOP: TRUMP CRAFTS PLAN TO CUT SPENDING WITHOUT CONGRESS AFTER SHUTDOWN IS AVERTED
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., recently announced he would vote for a government spending bill to avoid a government shutdown. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Accountable Tech)
Ocasio-Cortez told Tapper she’s worried about the CR giving Musk more power and affirming the DOGE agenda to cut government spending and fire federal workers.
"Well, first and foremost, the American people, if anyone has held a town hall or has seen what has been happening in town halls, the American people – whether they are Republicans, independents, Democrats – are up in arms about Elon Musk and the actual gutting of federal agencies across the board," she said.
"This continuing resolution codifies much of this chaos that Elon Musk is wreaking havoc on the federal government," Ocasio-Cortez continued. "It codifies many of those changes. It sacrifices and completely eliminates congressional authority in order to review these impulsive Trump tariffs that he’s switching on and off."
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The lawmaker accused the CR of removing the "guardrails" that ensure that congressionally directed spending goes where it’s supposed to, adding that it "turns the federal government into a slush fund for Donald Trump and Elon Musk."
"And so, to me, it is almost unthinkable why Senate Democrats would vote to hand the few pieces of leverage that we have away for free, when we’ve been sent here to protect Social Security, protect Medicaid, and protect Medicare."
Sen. Schumer's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
