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House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said she had "overwhelming support" among her fellow Democrats to become the House's next speaker. Pelosi has rejected the challenge of disaffected Democrats who claim to have 17 names on a letter opposing it. (November 15th)
AP

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif(Photo: Win McNamee, Getty Images)

WASHINGTON – A group of nine Democrats on Friday threatened not to support the candidacy of Nancy Pelosi's House Speaker, creating a potential obstacle for the California Democrat, who has been pushing for weeks to recover her former role.

Pelosi was already fighting for the support of a group of 16 Democrats who wrote a letter, stating that they would not support the minority speaker, instead called for new leadership.

The new group of nine Democrats from the problem-solving group has threatened to suspend support for Pelosi until she agrees to a list of demands including changes to the House's rules that could allow the group to resolve the problem. adoption of more bipartite laws.

The group, in a statement, said it "would only vote for a presidential candidate who supports the changes to the rules of" Breaking the grid ".

The group met with Pelosi last week after sending him a letter on calls to change the rules of the House, which would allow all members to pass bills in the House, which is currently done by the House. direction, according to CNN.

More: The House Democrats Group is committed to opposing Nancy Pelosi's candidacy for the presidency of the House.

More: Nancy Pelosi fights for Democrats' support to recover the president's hammer

More: What we know about the candidacy of Speaker of the House of Nancy Pelosi and why some Democrats oppose it

"While we acknowledge Pelosi's overall commitment to our efforts, we have not yet received any specific commitments regarding the proposed rule changes, which would contribute to "break the blockage" and allow true bipartite governance in this new era of divided government, "said the group chairman reads. "Without specific changes, we will be more often faced with the same problems – small pockets of extremist ideologues will continue to block the will of the majority of common sense."

While Pelosi is expected to win the House of Representatives next week in her caucus, she faces a tougher battle when the House votes on her appointment in January. She will need a majority, 218 votes, to win the job.

The caucus threat of holding nine votes and the 16 members who signed a letter last week could be a potential obstacle for Pelosi. Democrats will hold at least 234 seats in the House when new members are sworn in, which means she can only afford to lose 16 votes.

Pelosi still has weeks to put pressure on those on the fence before the final vote in January.

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Already, some of those who have expressed their opposition have yielded and now support Pelosi for his role. Representative Brian Higgins, DN.Y., one of the 16 signatories of the opposition letter last week, reversed his position after Pelosi had declared that she was open to Medicare for the first time. people over 50 and an infrastructure bill, which many Democrats have said is likely. receive bipartisan support.

The parliamentary group responsible for problem solving has called for changes to the "Break the Block" rule, noting that, according to Politico, proposals would allow individual members of the House to propose bipartite bills that have been overlooked over the past year. years.

The caucus said in its statement that this month's elections showed that "the American people were fed up with obstructionism and pure partisanship" and instead wanted the Congress to govern and adopt constructive laws.

"Although our discussions are stalled and, therefore, we can not support the leader Pelosi as president, we will continue to work with him and others in the hope of achieving a consensus on specific rule changes for more bipartite and sensible governance, "the group said.

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