Nancy Pelosi under pressure to deliver federal funding to ease humanitarian crisis at the border
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says the House should accept the Senate's bipartisan funding package; Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants more of the House's priorities included.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., on Sunday joined Democrats who took issue with a recent interview with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who criticized the influence of the four freshmen lawmakers who voted against the $4.6 billion border bill signed into law last week by President Trump.
Pelosi, who was interviewed by New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, played down the influence these representatives wield, saying, “All these people have their public whatever and their Twitter world. But they didn’t have any following. They’re four people and that’s how many votes they got."
Pelosi was referring to Omar, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass.
The four freshmen voted against the border bill they essentially said did not go far enough and, according to the Washington Post, was simply “throwing more money” at the Trump administration’s "human rights abuses."
TLAIB DOUBLES-DOWN ON AOC'S CONCENTRATION CAMP COMMENT
Ocasio-Cortez took to Twitter to explain to Pelosi, 79, that “public ‘whatever’ is called public sentiment.”
“And wielding the power to shift it is how we actually achieve meaningful change in this country,” she continued.
Omar wrote in response to Ocasio-Cortez, “Patetico! You know they’re just salty about WHO is wielding the power to shift “public sentiment” these days, sis. Sorry not sorry.”
The emergency legislation, required to ease overcrowded, often harsh conditions at U.S. holding facilities for migrants seeking asylum, mostly from Central American nations like Honduras and El Salvador, passed by a bipartisan 305-102 vote.
Pelosi said at the time that the bill would allow resources to get to children held at the border.
“As we pass the Senate bill, we will do so with a battle cry as to how we go forward to protect children in a way that truly honors their dignity and worth,” she wrote in a letter to lawmakers. The New York Times’ headline read, “House Passes Senate Border Bill in Striking Defeat for Pelosi.”
Fox News' Dom Calicchio contributed to this report