Progressive Democrats are coming forward to back up Congressmember Jamaal Bowman, who was one of six house democrats to vote NO on the $1.2 Trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Two of our readers sent in their opinions, which supported Bowman’s position to vote NO after an agreement to vote on the $1.2 Trillion bill, and the $1.7 Human Infrastructure bill, fell apart at the last minute.
Eugene Gaoghen writes, “As a progressive democrat, I feel betrayed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who went back on her word to my Congressman, Jamaal Bowman, AOC, and others that both infrastructure bills would be voted together. And if the Speaker didn’t have the votes to vote both bills together, then she should have waited, as Bowman mentioned in your recent story. We could have waited another day or another week, after waiting for five months. Instead Speaker Pelosi left Bowman, AOC and the six democrats out to dry, and they are taking a beating in the media.
“But here’s another way to look at it. 13 House republicans voted YES on the $1.2 Trillion Infrastructure bill. They are being lambasted by Trump democrats across the country. Some are getting death threats and others are being asked to leave their GOP caucus. And all for a vote in favor of roads, bridges, and the repairs that we need in this country and we need in Westchester. At least my Congressman, Jamaal Bowman had the guts to explain his NO vote, but to also say that the $1.2 Trillion bill is good for the people in his district.
“A warning to my fellow democrats, don’t be like the crazy republicans who want their 13 members who voted YES punished. Why not put the blame on Pelosi, who along with President Biden, ‘reneged on the deal.’ to move both bills together.” I think that Bowman and AOC showed us a profile in courage,” writes Gaoghen, from Hastings.
Gaoghen brings up a topic that hasn’t been highlighted as much in the media as we think should be, and one that Rep. Bowman has repeated in every interview he has given since the vote. What happened to the agreed upon deal to vote both bills together? The deal was to vote on both bills, not necessarily pass both bills. All that Bowman and AOC and Bernie Sanders wanted was a vote on both bills. They had a deal with the President and the Speaker, but they got politically screwed at the last minute, not Bowman’s words but mine (Dan Murphy).
Letter:
Westchester Democrat Pamela Day writes, “I agree that the infrastructure in our country is crumbling. Also broken is how we pay for prescription drugs and how there is a dearth of affordable housing.
“Congressmember Bowan voted exactly right on the Hard Infrastructure bill and I wish my representative Mondaire Jones had done the same.
“Rep. Bowman deserves admiration for acting on his principles. He said it succinctly in Westchester Rising, “this time around we can’t leave the most vulnerable behind.
“There are 95 members of the U.S. House of Representatives in the Congressional Progressive Caucus. From my view almost all have stated beliefs or aims that are Progressive however their actions have proved otherwise. They simply have not “walked the talk.”
Sincerely,Pamela Daly
Daly’s letter brings up another good point. If there are 95 members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, why did only 6 members of that caucus stand up to vote NO on the bill? And why didn’t these same 95 members use their political clout, as 40% of Speaker Pelosi’s slim democratic majority, to force a vote on both bills or vote NO on the one bill? If they had stayed together, and true to their principles, they would have forced the Speaker to agree to their terms, and not the few democratic moderates who won the day, and got their way.
