Ocasio-Cortez mobilizes Democrats against Schumer plan as colleagues privately urge her to consider primary challenge

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Thursday that she plans to mobilize her massive base of followers to oppose what she described as an “acquiesce” by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to accept the House GOP funding bill.

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Thursday that she plans to mobilize her massive base of followers to oppose what she described as an “acquiesce” by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to accept the House GOP funding bill. “I think there is a deep sense of outrage and betrayal,” Ocasio-Cortez told reporters in Leesburg, Virginia, where House Democrats are huddling for their annual policy retreat. She said she and her fellow Democrats are “texting, calling, sending carrier pigeons,” to mobilize the Democratic base against Schumer’s plan to allow the GOP funding bill to advance. And she slammed Senate Democrats for their decision to “completely roll over and give up on protecting the Constitution.” Asked whether Senate Democrats need new leadership, Ocasio-Cortez would say only that she is focused on how to prevent her party from accepting the GOP bill. “We have time to correct course on this decision. Senate Democrats can vote no. We can correct course, and that is the most important thing in front of us right now,” Ocasio-Cortez said. The New York Democrat has been among the most vocal Democratic officials nationwide in the push against the House GOP funding bill. Using her social accounts, Ocasio-Cortez has urged fellow Democrats across the country to exert maximum pressure on their own senators on the funding bill, which is the first major point of leverage in President Donald Trump’s second term.