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Rep. Anthony Brown (D-Md.) Said Democratic leaders must work “carefully” to keep their members together off the ground, especially on what he called the “messaging” bills that have little luck in the Senate 50-50 and already generating divisions.
“It’s weird, you know, when you control both chambers and the White House and still do courier bills. It’s going to kill us halfway through, ”Brown said. But he added: “the speaker is a master in this field.”
Democrats are pushing legislation forward at a rapid pace for now, speeding up bills passed in the last Congress. They are eager to show their grassroots the kind of progress that can come from electing Democrats to take full control of Washington. But taking big swings can mean taking big risks.
And unit tests are looming as many Democrats admit they still struggle to navigate a political landscape reshaped by the Jan.6 insurgency. Their lingering distrust of GOP colleagues who opposed President Joe Biden’s certification of victory spilled over to the House floor after weeks of emotional conversations in private – threatening to stymie any chance. transversal work in the Chamber.
It all started when lawmakers on both sides packed the Capitol steps Tuesday night for a candlelight vigil marking half a million deaths in the United States from the coronavirus. Behind closed doors, Pelosi’s team scrambled to avoid an embarrassing defeat on the most mundane of Congressional business: a bill to name a post office.
Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) Angered Democratic leaders by forcing a recorded vote on the bill, wanting to send a message that Democrats would not work with Republicans who refused to speak out against the pro-Trump rioters on January 6. But senior Democrats feared the move had unintended ramifications, in fact torpedoing the current House practice of allowing bipartisan and uncontroversial bills to be considered swiftly by all MPs. The bill was finally passed easily.
“There must be serious consequences if we try to overturn the results of our elections. I think there is only one specter in the caucus right now on what that looks like, ”said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who was one of 15 Democrats who sided with de Casten during the vote at the post office.
Now Pelosi and his leadership team must turn their attention to the coming intra-party cracks as they accept several high-profile bills. Some will be easier than others, like a long-standing reauthorization of the violence against women law. Other bills on the agenda involve delicate politics, whether it be the immigration status of agricultural workers or the public financing of elections.
In just the second month of the Democrats’ unified power over government, the limits of control become clear. For many Democrats, passing legislation in the last Congress that risked ending up in a GOP Senate was one thing. Now that bills passed by the House have a real chance of becoming law, Democrats are suddenly looking more carefully at their own decisions.
“I know we’re going to have a lot of political back and forth, but I think it’s going to be a very productive Congress,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said.
This dynamic complicates the passage next week of a sweeping voting rights and government reform bill, one of Democrats’ highest priorities since the last Congress.
Senior Democrats are confident they will pass the bill, which raises the high priority of HR 1. But an influential group of Congressional Black Caucus leaders, including several from the South, are raising objections to a provision that would oblige States to cede control of their redistribution decisions to independent commissions. CBC members fear such a massive overhaul could be used as a weapon by GOP-controlled legislatures to undermine black voters, but supporters of the bill say protections already exist under the law .
Representative Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), Who will likely oppose HR 1 without changing the redistribution wording, said he had the same qualms when the bill was passed in 2019. But he is all about it. just harder to support the expansive bill now, he explained, since the provision he opposes could effectively become law in Congress.
“Last year HR 1 was more ambitious,” Johnson said in an interview. “You have to be more careful what you let go of the Senate.”
Senior Democrats, including Reps Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) And John Sarbanes (D-Md.), Have privately met with CBC members to hear their concerns. Some CBC members also heard from former Attorney General Eric Holder, who is leading the nationwide Democratic Redistribution review effort. Lofgren and Sarbanes huddled with Pelosi, Hoyer and majority whip Jim Clyburn on Wednesday on the issue.
CBC President Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) said the talks were helping to reduce the number of her members opposing the bill – which she called a “good sign” , although she declined to say whether she was ready to support the legislation.
“I think there are a lot of good things in the bill, but obviously I want to make sure that we don’t dilute minority representation,” Beatty said, noting that there is still talk of changing the wording. .
This bill is expected to hit the floor next week, with another widely popular bill from the last Congress that encountered new headwinds this year.
On the Democrats’ Radical Police Reform Bill, a group of moderates attempt to restore the language which aims to hold police officers legally accountable for the alleged misconduct, modifying a doctrine known as qualified immunity. The centrists who pushed back on this issue all supported the police bill last summer.
They argue that keeping the qualified immunity provision as written would lead to negotiations with the 10 or so Republicans who would need to support the bill in the Senate. Most Democrats, however, argue that language is a crucial part of holding officers accountable for any crime committed on the job.
For the next two years, a group of just five House Democrats have the power to introduce any bill they don’t like by voting no on the floor. So far, none have shown the will to detonate it. Privately, some members believe such an amazing moment could happen soon, but admit they face intense pressure to stay together.
Meanwhile, the bad feelings in the wake of January 6 remain unresolved for many Democrats.
There is lingering anger within the caucus over what several Democrats have privately described as the failure of their leaders to strike up a “family conversation” until this week about interacting with Republicans in a post. -January. 6 world. Senior Democrats counter that there is no way for them to institute any caucus-wide policy on the issue and say they touched on it in many conversations before this week.
Casten defended himself on a private midweek caucus call, saying he didn’t want to be ostracized as “Thomas Massie of the left,” according to several people listening – referring to a Kentucky Republican House who alienated many during his conference. But Casten is one of many Democrats who have crafted their own kind of “blacklist,” refusing to work with GOP members who would support Trump’s efforts to overturn the election.
House Financial Services President Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) Said on the call she did not intend to bring bills co-sponsored by those Republicans to her committee, according to two democrats.
During the call, Pelosi and other Democratic leaders advised each member to do what is right for their districts while stressing that they would not allow the complete institutional break that would result if Democrats stopped working with them. the Republicans.
“In the context of interacting with those who continue to bring aid and reassurance to a violent insurgency,” said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries (DN.Y.), “everyone will need to take individual decisions “.
Ally Mutnick contributed.
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