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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) fired back at Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL) after the Republican alleged Democrats have been drinking through multiple votes for speaker of the House.
On Wednesday, the House again did not choose a speaker in a roll call vote after after Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) failed to garner the necessary 218 votes. Though his party controls the House, 21 members of his conference are currently refusing to back him.
The House has so far held a total of six votes on Tuesday and Wednesday.
In a speech to nominate McCarthy ahead of a sixth vote, Cammack suggested Democratic members have been hitting the sauce.
“Diversity of thought is a good thing,” she said. “But they want us divided. They want us to fight each other. That much has been made clear by the popcorn and blankets and alcohol that is coming over there.”
Cammack laughed as several Democratic House members loudly voiced their disapproval, enough so the clerk had to “ask all members elect to abide by
Ocasio-Cortez responded by saying the speakership voting has gone on for so long, Democrats wouldn’t be able to maintain consciousness were they drinking throughout the process.
“If only! If Dems took a shot every time McCarthy lost a Republican, we’d all be unconscious by now,” she tweeted, along with a cocktail glass emoji.
As Jake Sherman of Punchbowl News pointed out, though some Democrats requested Cammack’s words be stricken from the congressional record, the House presently lacks the rules necessary to act on the request.
Republicans took over the House after November’s midterm elections, but have a narrow 222-212 majority. McCarthy could afford to lose no more than four Republicans. In the sixth vote, 21 Republicans voted for other members. After that vote failed, the House adjourned until Wednesday at 8 p.m.