Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez praised the $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill as a ‘progressive victory’

• Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez praised the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package announced by Senate Dems on Tuesday.
• It would stand with the $579 billion infrastructure deal that President Biden struck with the GOP last month.
• Without progressive lawmakers, she said, “we probably would be stuck with that tiny, pathetic bipartisan bill alone.”
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez praised the $3.5 trillion infrastructure package passed by Senate Democrats, calling it a “progressive victory.”

Earlier this week, Senate Democrats agreed on a $3.5 trillion reconciliation package to expand Medicare and strengthen social-safety-net programs, skirting GOP opposition to using more federal spending.

The New York congresswoman said she would have liked a larger package but billed the agreement as an “enormous victory,” according to NY1 reporter Kevin Frey.

“This bill is absolutely a progressive victory,” she said. “If it wasn’t for progressives in the House, we probably would be stuck with that tiny, pathetic bipartisan bill alone.”

The $3.5 trillion package would stand with the $579 billion bipartisan infrastructure deal that President Joe Biden struck with Republicans last month, and the party-line agreement would amount to $4.1 trillion.

“This is the most significant piece of legislation since the Great Depression, and I’m delighted to be part of having helped to put it together,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, the chair of the Senate Budget Committee, told reporters on Tuesday evening.

Senate Democrats expressed confidence that the package would be turned into a bill in the coming weeks, which would make it one of the largest spending bills ever taken up by Congress.

“We are very proud of this plan,” Schumer told reporters Tuesday following the negotiations. “We know we have a long road to go.”