Rep. Pelosi takes another 'gang of 16' critic in hand

[bigtree]

Rachael Bade @rachaelmbade
ANOTHER @NancyPelosi critic CAVES: Rep. Brian Higgins, who was one of the 16 who signed that letter vowing to vote against Pelosi on the House floor. Wow. It's only been two weeks of Pelosi's whipping campaign!

WASHINGTON – Rep. Brian Higgins of Buffalo reversed course Wednesday and said he will support Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi to be the speaker of the House, delivering a devastating blow to a weakening rebellion in the ranks that aims to oust her from the top job in the incoming House of Representatives.

Higgins, in a telephone interview with The Buffalo News, said he decided to support Pelosi after she agreed to rank two of his top priorities among the new Democratic House's priorities. He said Pelosi agreed that Democrats will advance a major infrastructure bill early in the next Congress, and that Higgins will be able to take the lead as House Democrats also work to pass his proposal to allow people to buy in to Medicare at the age of 50.

"I have an agreement in principle with the Democratic leader that those are going to be two priorities, and that I will be the lead person on the Medicare buy-in," Higgins said.

Higgins' turnabout comes only two days after he joined 15 other House Democrats on a letter calling for new leadership...

Higgins said he changed his mind, though, after conversations with Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, a New York Democrat.

read: https://buffalonews.com/2018/11/21/higgins-in-a-reversal-will-back-pelosi/

Link to tweet

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. She's a Jedi master of this stuff, isn't she?

[ananda]

15. She really is.

Good!

[hostalover]

16. I LOVE watching her work!

[Jeffersons Ghost]

32. K&R me too n/t

[Cirque du So-What]

2. Behold the power of true leadership

And that's one reason why we'll soon be referring to Nancy Pelosi as Madame Speaker.

[Me.]

3. The Cool Thing In MakingThese Deals Is...

Nancy doesn't have to sell herself out or go against her principles. She has been talking about infrastructure all summer and she certainly is for getting better health coverage to the people of this country.

[Caliman73]

21. That's exactly what I was thinking.

She isn't doing anything "pork barrel" or shady. Infrastructure is a Democratic policy plank as is doing whatever possible to get more Americans access to health care.

Those were priorities for Pelosi, along with Green energy as signaled by her desire to re-institute the Select Committee.

[WhiteTara]

31. Exactly. These are all things she wants to do

and she's letting them "force" her to do them. Brilliant. So, she's below the threshold of losing her speakership?

[Me.]

33. Looks Like

39 confirmed with 4 possibles to come though long shots. We now have 236 house seats. She needs 218. The gang of 15, plus lamb & Spanberger who oppose her leaves her with 219. Frankly, pretty dumb of the newbies to buy into the Con's meme before they even knew Nancy P. I know 'the district' meme but to me, it's a tell on their judgment.

[WhiteTara]

34. a win with one vote is still a win. GO Nancy!

[Me.]

35. ...

[ismnotwasm]

4. Holy shit.

[Arkansas Granny]

5. And this is why we need her as Speaker. She knows how to negotiate

and get things done.

[Bleacher Creature]

6. She's so unbelievably badass.

Again, we're talking about a woman who was able to pass Obamacare with a public option, despite anger from conservative Dems, and then pass a version without a public option, despite anger from progressive Dems. And add to that the stimulus, Dodd-Frank, cap-and-trade, student loan reform, Lily Ledbetter, etc., etc., etc.

People like Seth Moulton have no idea how much they're doing the bidding of the GOP.

[Cousin Dupree]

7. Nancy knows how to woman-up!

[stopbush]

8. As I wrote the other day, these 16 made Pelosi's job so easy.

All she needed to do was pick off two of them and the whole hapless rebellion fell apart. That they self identified a couple of months before any vote was taken was a gift to Madame Speaker.

[Wounded Bear]

9. It's called politics...

von Bismark once said that there were two things that should not be done in public, making sausages and legislation.

Many of these people "opposing" Ms Pelosi were really just jockeying for position, looking for seats on committees and maybe even chairmanships. Pelosi has been herding cats in the Dem causus successfully for a long time.

She's doing fine.

[Blaukraut]

10. By the time Nancy Pelosi is done, she'll get 400 votes. LOL n/t

[Iliyah]

11. We voted for a Democratic Party's majority in the House.

Why the fuck are there opposition at this point. Ugh

[yardwork]

14. Some of it is theater.

Pelosi wants to move progressive bills forward, but gets push back from constituents who label her as "too liberal." Having others "oppose" her and then lead the charge on certain priorities defuses opposition. This is strategic.

[groundloop]

19. Agreed.....those members in more conservative districts want to be able to say they can fight Pelosi

While it would be great to have every member vote for progressive issues every time it's more important that they be able to hold their seats. For some of them to do that it will help them to be able to say they voted against such and such bill.... so long as the bill passes it doesn't matter that a few Dems voted against it. IMO SPEAKER Pelosi is great at being able to do that kind of give and take.

[yardwork]

24. Yes. It's essential that Democrats have the majority.

Once we have that, we control the process. Now Democrats will chair every committee and be the majority on every committee. Democrats decide what committees to create, what bills to propose, and what investigations to initiate.

The actual votes are just one small part.

[Wintryjade]

28. Yes, good point. Thanks.

[Magoo48]

22. Because we aren't the fucking Borg; Democrats are individuals with different points of view.

[elmac]

12. I agree with the tweet

I think this will be an historical session.

[yardwork]

13. Leadership.

[lilactime]

17. K&R!!!

[Johnyawl]

18. She'll be a much better speaker than Tip O'Neill...

...She'll spend more time sober.

[pdsimdars]

20. I've heard some wonderful things about her from those who have worked with her. . . . Obama for one.

[Hamlette]

23. and when Republicans scream we can't afford it, Dems say "Mexico will pay for it"

or it will pay for itself like the tax cuts.

[Hassler]

25. One by one she demonstrates why she'll be, and should be Speaker.

[Wintryjade]

27. Yes she does.

[Wintryjade]

26. I like both of the thing Higgins wants. I gotta tell you, Pelosi makes this look too easy.

Between Fudge yesterday and Higgins today, this pretty much neutered the efforts.

[TheBlackAdder]

29. The "Gang of 16" are only relevant when they are attempting a shake down of the Democratic Party!

[DeminPennswoods]

30. It's like how prosecutors flip perps

The first one to come to the table usually gets the best deal. The CPC was the first to figure this out and they got a sweet deal. Karen Bass was next. She got a good, but lesser, deal. Then Marcia Fudge. Now Higgins whose deal isn't as good as those before him.

Pretty soon there won't be anything left for Ryan or Moulton but scraps.

[libdem4life]

36. I love Nancy,,,but did the dissenters really want rid of her? Really?

or just her attention so they could "get stuff". I get there aren't 15 plum assignments, but somebody is playing somebody. Again, she is still proving her creds. Much as I hate it, what will happen in their districts now they'be been shunned? for this Was there really that much constituent support for this political stunt?