Cori Bush yells at Steve Scalise on House floor: ‘Your bills are racist’

Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) yelled at House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) on the House floor on Thursday, calling Republicans’ funding bills “racist,” after GOP lawmakers passed the first of 12 annual appropriations bills.

“Your bills are racist,” Bush yelled out, as Scalise touted the passage of the legislation allocating funding for military construction, the Department of Veterans Affairs and related agencies.

The comment was met with outcries from Republican lawmakers in the chamber and calls to strike Bush’s words from the official record.

However, the Missouri Democrat remained unapologetic about the outburst, tweeting, “I said what I said,” with a shrugging emoji shortly after the incident.

The Milcon-VA bill passed in a 219-211 vote Thursday, with every Democrat and two Republicans — Reps. Tim Burchett (Tenn.) and Ken Buck (Colo.) — voting against the measure.

The House legislation is virtually dead on arrival in the Democratic-controlled Senate, where appropriators are marking up their own spending bills.

With Congress set to adjourn this week for its monthlong August recess, lawmakers are facing a tight deadline to pass legislation funding the government by Sept. 30 and avert a government shutdown.

Tags Bush Cori Bush government shutdown spending bills Steve Scalise

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