Ocasio-Cortez threatens to blow up Joe Manchin's bipartisan infrastructure deal after he demands spending 'pause'

Second-term progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) stood up to Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) on the question of infrastructure spending.

Manchin, a conservative Democrat, on Thursday had an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal calling for a "pause" on the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill.

"Instead of rushing to spend trillions on new government programs and additional stimulus funding, Congress should hit a strategic pause on the budget reconciliation legislation," Manchin wrote.

However, the budget reconciliation legislation amounts to the vast majority of infrastructure spending in President Joe Biden's "Build Back Better" agenda.

Ocasio-Cortez threatened to block the smaller portion of Biden's infrastructure agenda, the bipartisan budget framework that Manchin has supported.

She also blasted the bipartisan budget framework as "Exxon lobbyist drafted" and cited climate change as a reason passing the larger legislation is necessary.

Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) agreed with Ocasio-Cortez's attacks on Manchin, also citing climate change.

With disasters occurring from coast-to-coast, the climate change message progressives are using to support passing both bills is also being used by the White House.

"The past few days of Hurricane Ida, wildfires in the West, and unprecedented flash floods in New York and New Jersey are another reminder that the climate crisis is here," Biden wrote on Thursday.

"We need to be better prepared. That's why I'm urging Congress to act and pass my Build Back Better plan," he said, referring to passage of both bills.