Democrat Resistance to Nancy Pelosi Infrastructure ‘Hostage’ Strategy Grows

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) arrives for her weekly news conference in the Hou
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Sean Moran

Democrat rank-and-file resistance to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) hardline tactics on infrastructure has only grown since the leading House lawmaker has attempted to strong-arm moderate Democrats.

Moderate Democrats, led in part by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), have led the revolt against Pelosi’s strategy to hold the $1.2 trillion so-called bipartisan infrastructure bill “hostage” to secure passage for the $3.5 trillion budget resolution and subsequent reconciliation infrastructure bill.

The House planned to vote on a rule Monday that would allow for the chamber to consider the bipartisan bill and the budget resolution.

Reps. Carolyn Bourdeaux (D-GA), Ed Case (D-HI), Jim Costa (D-CA), Henry Cuellar (D-TX), Jared Golden (D-ME), Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX), Gottheimer, Kurt Schrader (D-OR), Filemon Vela (D-FL) have served as part of the group leading the resistance against Pelosi.

The Democrats want immediate consideration of the bipartisan bill so that the chamber can pass the bill and send it to the president’s desk to sign as soon as possible, rather than waiting until the fall for Democrats to potentially pass their $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill.

Now, Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) has joined the ranks of the Democrat revolt against Pelosi.

“The Senate passed a popular, bipartisan infrastructure bill negotiated by the President. It’s now before the House, but being unnecessarily delayed. I’ll vote to start reconciliation, but only if we finish our work on infrastructure,” Murphy said.

“In any event, if Democratic leaders believe they need to hold a good bipartisan bill hostage — and strong-arm their fellow Democrats — in order to achieve their desired policy goal, perhaps they should reconsider whether their overall approach is the right one,” Murphy wrote in her op-ed for the Orlando Sentinel.

“House Dem Leadership was hoping to reduce the group of nine moderates who were holding the line on voting for the budget resolution without a vote on the infrastructure bill.. Instead there is now an addition to the list..,” Ryan Nobles, a congressional correspondent for CNN, wrote Monday.

Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.