Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) upbraided centrist House Democrats on Saturday after a vote on gun control earlier this week split the party.
Ocasio-Cortez went after the “splinter group of Dems” on Twitter after the vote this week exposed divisions within the Democratic Caucus on an amendment to a universal background check bill.
More than two dozen moderate Democrats helped Republicans in the minority tack on a motion to recommit to the background check bill that would to notify U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) if a person in the country illegally tries to buy a gun.{mosads}
“Mind you, the same small splinter group of Dems that tried to deny Pelosi the speakership, fund the wall during the shutdown when the public didn’t want it, & are now voting in surprise ICE amendments to gun safety legislation are being called the ‘moderate wing’ of the party,” Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive firebrand and staunch ICE critic, tweeted Saturday.
Reports surfaced that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Ocasio-Cortez teamed up to push back on the defectors.
“Vote ‘no.’ Just vote ‘no,’ because the fact is a vote ‘yes’ is to give leverage to the other side, to surrender the leverage on the floor of the House,” Pelosi told reporters of the message she relayed to Democrats.
Meanwhile, Ocasio-Cortez has denied reports that she threatened to add centrist Democrats who bucked the party to a list to potentially be primaried, saying she was upset with the members of her caucus who took a position in support of ICE.
“Again, didn’t threaten a primary. I was upset that 26 Dems forced the other 200+ to vote for a pro-ICE provision at the last min without warning,” she tweeted Saturday.
“If you’re mad that I think people SHOULD KNOW when Dems vote to expand ICE powers, then be mad. ICE is a dangerous agency with 0 accountability, widespread reporting of rape, abuse of power, + children dying in DHS custody. Having a D next to your name doesn’t make that right.”
Ocasio-Cortez was responding in part to an article from The Washington Post that detailed criticism of the New York representative from centrist House Democrats who felt endangered by the alleged primary threat.
“Being unified means ensuring that Democrats aren’t primary-ing other sitting Democrats,” Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), a co-chairman of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, told the Post. “Since when is it OK to put you on a Nixonian list? We need to have a big tent in our party or we won’t keep the House or win the White House.”