Pelosi worried about 2010 backlash; scales back agenda
Posted by Bill Dupray
on Dec 16 2009 Filed under Politics.
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I guess elections do have consequences. After the shellacking in Virginia and the surprising loss in New Jersey this year, the Dems are finally seeing the writing on the wall. Nancy Pelosi is either pulling controversial legislation or making the Senate pass something before the House takes a vote on it.
From The Hill.
But according to Democrats who have spoken to Pelosi, the Speaker has expanded that promise beyond immigration, informing Democratic lawmakers that the Senate will have to move first on a host of controversial issues before she brings them to the House floor.
“The Speaker has told members in meetings that we’ve done our jobs,” a Democratic leadership aide said. “And that next year the Senate’s going to have to prove what it can accomplish before we go sticking our necks out any further.” . . .
Pelosi’s promise could dim the prospects for other White House priorities as well, including the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) — known as “card check” — and the repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” prohibition on gays serving openly in the military.
“There’s not going to be a ton of stuff legislatively next year either way,” a House leadership aide said. “But on EFCA — even though the House has demonstrated its ability to pass it — and on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the Senate is definitely going to have to act first.”
And lest anyone think that the Democrats don’t realize that their “victories” this year will come back to bite them next year, think again.
More than most leaders, Van Hollen has had to deal with the ugly side of the victories that Pelosi has won. In the absence of Senate action on a number of House initiatives, GOP reelection committee operatives have been hammering vulnerable Democrats for supporting “Pelosi’s ultra-liberal agenda.”
Van Hollen, in his second term heading the DCCC, played offense last cycle. This time around, he’s playing defense.
“There have been some members who have been concerned that the House is passing things ahead of the Senate,” Van Hollen said when discussing immigration. “And what we’re simply saying is that, in this case, the Senate will go first.”
This is a clear sign that the 2009 elections have chastened Democrats. Health care will probably be last big-ticket item before the midterms, and if the American people treat the Democrats next year the same way they did this year, it may be the last big ticket item in Obama’s presidency.
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- House Dems Open Fire On Senate Dems As Their Agenda Continues To Stall
- Pelosi on Specter: “Now We Don’t Have To Explain Process”
- Pelosi shrewdly pushes Catholic church to promote Democratic agenda and not bipartisan immigration reform
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