Ted Cruz and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Surprisingly Agree on This Troubling Aspect of Stimulus Vote

Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may be on different ends of the political [...]

By Stephanie Downs

Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may be on different ends of the political spectrum, but they both agreed on one particular criticism regarding the new COVID-19 relief bill. On Twitter, Cruz wrote that he agreed with Ocasio-Cortez, who originally noted that it was troubling that Congress would have to vote on the second-largest bill in the country's history on Monday without having enough time to read through its entirety properly. The Texas senator even wrote that it was "absurd" that they would have to vote on the bill mere hours after it was made available to lawmakers.

On Monday, Congress planned to vote on the $900 billion COVID-19 relief package. However, the lengthy document was not made available to lawmakers until shortly before they were tasked with voting on it. Ocasio-Cortez criticized this situation on Twitter, writing, "It's not good enough to hear about what's in the bill. Members of Congress need to see & read the bills we are expected to vote on. I know it's "controversial" & I get in trouble for sharing things like this, but the people of this country deserve to know. They deserve better." Shortly after she issued this message, Cruz retweeted it to share that he agreed. He wrote that it was "absurd" that they would have to vote on a $2.5 trillion spending bill "negotiated in secret" and that they would vote on it hours after receiving it. Ultimately, the bill did pass in the House (Ocasio-Cortez did vote for it) and the Senate (Cruz was one of a handful of Republicans who issued a nay vote).

Even though the bill passed in both the House and the Senate, President Donald Trump threatened to veto it on Tuesday. He posted a video on Twitter in which he shared several criticisms that he has for the bill. Most notably, he took issue with the amount allocated for stimulus checks. (Under this proposal, eligible Americans would receive a $600 check.) The president said, "I am asking Congress to amend this bill and increase the ridiculously low $600 to $2,000, or $4,000 for a couple." Many Democrats, such as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, have already said that they would be on board for $2,000 direct payments. However, it's unclear if that measure will garner enough support in Congress.

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