Leave it out to dry

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-D) was talking about the new major spending bills in Congress on the Rachel Maddow show (9/30/21). She said that what she is afraid of is that the infrastructure bill will be voted on and then Congress will leave the Build Back America bill out to dry. You can hear this around minute 37:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-rachel-maddow-show/id294055449?i=1000537189817

This is a mashup of “hang (one) out to dry” (abandon someone) and “leave (one) high and dry” (leave someone in a difficult situation which you are unable to do anything about). Both idioms have the word “dry” in them and both describe abandonment. A big thanks to Frank King who heard this one and passed it on.