The moderate Democrats have rebelled against Nancy Pelosi. It was bound to happen, she runs a tight ship and has a past record of not sheltering moderates from tough votes.
The last time she ran the House, the blind obedience she demanded caused the GOP to wipe them out in the next election.
As the House passed a new gun bill, the GOP was able to attach an amendment that would notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement if an undocumented immigrant tries to buy a gun.
A sensible addition that was opposed by Pelosi. Moderate Democrats, however, are already thinking about 2020 and know their constituents will only allow so much.
So the broke from Pelosi’s grip and voted with the GOP. Which caused the entire Dem caucus to erupt in a fight that was a long time coming.
Look, it has to be terrifying to be under Pelosi because she gets stuff done and demands her people toe the line, no matter the personal cost.
That may have been worth it when Obama was President and the Dems could pass bills, but to make the moderates walk the plank for bills that will never become law is suicide induced by Pelosi’s arrogance.
From The Hill: More than two dozen Democrats, mostly freshmen from swing districts, crossed the aisle to help Republicans pass a motion to recommit (MTR) — a parliamentary proposal released at the last minute — to notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement if an undocumented immigrant tries to buy a gun.
The surprise GOP victory forced Democrats to endorse an immigration policy most opposeto ensure passage of their long-sought background check bill.
At a closed-door Thursday meeting of the Democratic whip team in the Capitol basement, Pelosi and a number of rank-and-file members — including prominent freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) — implored their colleagues to reject the GOP procedural gambits, regardless how tough it might seem to vote against them.
But a number of moderate Democrats are vowing to vote however they see fit.
“I vote my district,” Rep. Conor Lamb (D-Pa.), who voted in favor of the GOP’s measure, told The Hill Thursday.
Freshman Rep. Jeff Van Drew (D-N.J.) also held firm.
“I always feel responsible for what I vote for,” said Van Drew, who voted against his party on the GOP measure. “And if I believe something makes sense I’ll vote for it; if I think it doesn’t make sense, I won’t vote for it — if it’s an MTR or anything else.”
Democrats say they get where lawmakers like Van Drew are coming from. But they also say their votes are putting the rest of the party in a bad position.
“We certainly understand the situation that the new members feel, and we’re just trying to remind them this is a procedural tool of the minority,” Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus, said leaving the Thursday meeting. “They have to remember that … the very essence of it is to put them in awkward positions.”
The loss on Wednesday was particularly painful because it was a surprise, and because it came on gun control legislation that’s a cornerstone of the Democratic legislative agenda.
Ocasio-Cortez told her colleagues that she had to explain what unfolded on the floor to the activists seated in the visitors’ gallery, according to a lawmaker in the room.
“These MTRs, they’re designed to be essentially the House version of Trump’s agenda when it comes to dividing people,” Ocasio-Cortez said after the meeting. “They force a zero-sum situation where, in order to get my thing, I have to hurt another person.
“I think it’s something that we need to anticipate and I think it is something we need to be united against.”
For the Democrats, the split starts at the very top. Pelosi has built a long-earned reputation for uniting her caucus against such procedural maneuvers, which she deems “gotcha” votes. But her top lieutenants — House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (Md.) and Majority Whip James Clyburn (S.C.) — want to give freshmen and other vulnerable lawmakers the freedom to break with the party on tough votes.
“I think we suffer from potentially a lack of consistency in terms of the message that members are getting,” said Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), a chief deputy whip. “I think that’s a problem.”
