Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was the lone House Democrat to vote against a bill to fund and reopen the government on Wednesday because it funded Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which she supports abolishing.
The progressive from New York, who has built a massive following, said she broke from her party because she did not want any funding allocated to the agency — which activists have railed against over the past year.
Several elected Democrats had announced their support for abolishing the agency.
"Most of our votes are pretty straightforward, but today was a tough/nuanced call," she wrote in an Instagram story. "We didn't vote with the party because one of the spending bills included ICE funding, and our community felt strongly about not funding that."
The bill passed with the support of more than 220 Democrats and a handful of Republicans. It would end what has become the longest government shutdown in history. Roughly 800,000 federal workers are either furloughed or working without pay.
But because this funding effort does not include the $5.7 billion in border wall funding that President Donald Trump seeks, there remains little chance he would sign it if passes the Senate — which also looks unlikely.
Ocasio-Cortez’s vote came after she faced criticism this month for voting in favor of a spending bill that did include funding for ICE, which is housed in the Department of Homeland Security.
