Rep. Omar breaks ranks, votes against infrastructure bill

Despite the defections of Omar and the other five progressive Democrats called “The Squad,” the package passed the House

Associated Press

Nov 6, 2021

Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar was the only member of Minnesota’s congressional delegation to break party ranks on a roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that passed the House late Friday.

Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar (above) speaks during an April press conference in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota at a memorial for Daunte Wright, who was shot and killed by Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter during a traffic stop. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

Despite the defections of Omar and the other five progressive Democrats called “The Squad,” the package passed the House on a 228-206 vote after fractious Democrats resolved a months-long standoff in their ranks to seal the deal.

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Omar, the whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said she still wasn’t willing to vote for the infrastructure bill without passage first of a $1.85 trillion spending plan known as the Build Back Better Act. That vote is expected later this month. Omar and other progressives had held up the infrastructure bill to pressure moderates to back the larger bill.

“Passing the infrastructure bill without passing the Build Back Better Act first risks leaving behind child care, paid leave, health care, climate action, housing, education, and a road map to citizenship,” Omar said in a statement.

We waste a phenomenal amount of time on here angrily complaining about controversies that aren’t even real. No way would “the squad” have cast DECIDING votes against infrastructure. They’d just have done another round of negotiations and then ultimately voted for it.
— Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) November 6, 2021

Minnesota’s three other Democratic representatives supported the bill, the Star Tribune reported, while its four GOP members voted no.

A fact sheet from the White House said Minnesota would likely get billions from the infrastructure bill, including $4.5 billion for highways, $302 million for bridge repairs and replacement and more than $818 million over five years for public transportation. At least $100 million was expected for broadband in Minnesota.

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