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Ocasio-Cortez was the lone House Democrat to vote against a bill to reopen government
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez went against her party's decision on a bill that would fund the government. She was the only one to do so.
A short-term spending bill that would help keep the government running as it is until February 28 was brought before the House on Wednesday.
Democratic representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez refused to vote for the bill as she believed it would also fund border security.
![Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at a campaign rally | Photo credit: Getty Images](https://cdn.amomama.com/527bdded847a13d5963dabac876aec3224988201548370866.jpg)
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at a campaign rally | Photo credit: Getty Images
After the votes, Ocasio-Cortez spoke to the New York Post. She explained that she had to do what the people wanted.
She said:
"We were having conversations with our community after we voted for DHS [Department of Homeland Security] funding the first time. We’re hearing back a lot from our local community and they’re uncomfortable with any vote on funding for ICE.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and border security are two things that Ocasio-Cortez is strongly against. Her spokesman, Corbin Trent, made it clear:
"[Ocasio-Cortez] is a solid no for funding ICE at all."
Regardless of her decision, the bill passed 234-184. Ten Republicans even opted in and voted for the bill. The 183 others voted against it with Ocasio-Cortez.
Most other Republicans opposed it since only $1.6 billion would go towards border security. Trump is requesting $5.7 billion for the border wall.
As of Thursday, 34 days have passed since the government shutdown began. It's the longest-running shutdown in US history.
Unless Trump gets the $5.7 billion he's requesting, he doesn't seem to want to stand down. Meanwhile, 800,000 federal employees went without pay this month.
Ocasio-Cortez is taking the necessary steps to stick to her word. Earlier this month, she lapsed on that by voting for a bill that would help fund border security.
Just days after her term began, the congresswoman voted on a bill that did support ICE. This came mere days after she went on television to attack Trump.
Ocasio-Cortez said that Trump should actually be "defending why we are funding [ICE] at all because right now, what we are seeing is death. Right now we are seeing the violations of human rights."
Weeks later at her first House speech, Ocasio-Cortez was consistent as she again attacked Trump's policies regarding the border wall.
She said:
“The truth of this shutdown is that it's actually not about a wall...The truth is, this shutdown is about the erosion of American democracy and the subversion of our most basic governmental norms."
The clip of the speech reached over a million views in just over 12 hours, sending it viral. It also made it C-SPAN's most-viewed Twitter video of remarks by a House lawmaker.
In her speech, Ocasio-Cortez added:
"It is not normal to hold 800,000 workers' paychecks hostage. It is not normal to shut down the government when we don't get what we want. And it is certainly not normal to starve the people we serve for a proposal that is wildly unpopular among the American people."