Former Democrat Reps. Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman, who had been members of the progressive "Squad" while in Congress, say that Democrats were originally looking to pass a $10 trillion version of former President Joe Biden's Build Back Better legislation.
"We were at $10 [trillion] and then it went down to $6 [trillion] and down to $3 [trillion] and down to $1.7 [trillion], I believe," Bush said March 14 on the "Bowman and Bush" podcast.
The former federal lawmakers were reminiscing about the behind-the-scenes effort to push Biden's ill-fated Build Back Better Act across the congressional finish line. The bill had called for hundreds of billions of dollars in spending on "social infrastructure" programs, including climate change initiatives, universal childcare, affordable housing, and an expansion of the child tax credit.
"We wanted to make sure that the climate investment was there because many of the groups were saying this isn't enough on climate ... so I was getting attacked for not asking for more," Bush said.
Bush and Bowman each lost their Democrat primaries to moderate challengers last year.
During their podcast episode, the ex-Congress members said they "held the line for months" in not voting to advance Biden's infrastructure bill so that it could be passed with the Build Back Better Act. But the one-time representatives said that federal investment in Build Back Better kept dropping and their efforts to pair the bill with the infrastructure measure ultimately failed.
According to their narrative of events, the Democrat-controlled House voted to pass the infrastructure bill separately in November 2021 and no vote was scheduled for Build Back Better.
Bush recalled a lengthy meeting of the Congressional Progressive Caucus in which Biden called to muster support for passing the infrastructure bill despite progressive demands not being met for a vote on Build Back Better.
"Mr. President, I'm a no," Bush said she told Biden. "I'm not going to vote for the infrastructure bill, if we don't have Build Back Better being voted on at the same time."
Despite Biden pleading with her to "trust your president," Bush said she told him "no."
The Build Back Better Act passed the House on Nov. 19, 2021, but objections from centrists like then-Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., killed the bill in the Senate.
Bowman incited controversy in his district by making several statements that were criticized as antisemitic. He lost his primary to Rep. George Latimer, D-N.Y.
Bush, who was defeated by Rep. Wesley Bell, D-Mo., blamed her congressional loss on the American-Israeli activist group AIPAC, claiming they "radicalized" her in her concession speech.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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