The Hill is reporting today that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has told vulnerable Democratic members that they will not vote on controversial bills in 2010 unless the Senate acts first. This is a pollitically wise decision. The House got burned on Cap and Trade legislation when members voted on something that would hurt their chances of re-election and then the Senate did nothing on the matter. If healthcare does not pass in the Senate, that will be another unpopular vote the House of Representatives took for no apparent reason.
Speaker Pelosi has stated that the House of Representatives will not take up the issue of Immigration Reform until it has passed the Senate. Other bills that could be affected by the caution of Ms. Pelosi are "Card Check" and the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
The article points out:
"Talking about the financial regulatory reform bill that moved through the House last week without any GOP support, Connolly referenced the flipping of 40 Democrats on a controversial amendment to give judges new power to rewrite home mortgages -- known as "cramdown" -- to showcase the approach vulnerable members have been taking on issues that the Senate has shown little appetite for.
"Most of us voted against the [Rep. John] Conyers [Jr. (D-Mich.)] amendment to reinstitute 'cramdown.' We may have supported -- I did -- cramdown earlier this year, but the Senate said, 'No, we're not going to do it,'" Connolly said. "The freshmen pretty much said, 'Why have a Pyrrhic victory on this issue only to have the Senate shoot us down yet again?'""
Mid-term elections generally produce gains for the party opposing the President, so it is not unusual for the Democrats to be concerned, but the recent Republican victories in governor's races in Virginia and New Jersey have sounded alarms. Virginia was expected, but New Jersey is typically a Democrat state, and the loss there was serious.
Leave a comment