House Democrats will leave Friday on a high point for the caucus, earning Speaker Nancy Pelosi praise and reenergizing many in the caucus after this month’s rough patch ...
The speaker leaves Washington for the summer recess after securing a $2.7 trillion budget deal and holding firm on impeachment.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had a list in hand as she worked the floor on Wednesday, buttonholing her members to secure an even bigger vote count for her hard-fought, massive budget deal.
By Thursday, Pelosi shepherded enough Democrats to back her grand fiscal bargain with President Donald Trump that she didn’t need a single GOP vote — a decisive victory for Democrats and a stark rebound for the speaker after a chaotic month that laid bare painful divisions within the caucus.
Separately, Pelosi navigated her caucus through one of the most high-profile moments of the majority — former special counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony before two congressional panels — while averting what some Democrats feared could be a stampede toward impeachment.
The successes on both fronts had House Democrats marching in lockstep as they departed the Capitol on Thursday for a six-week recess, some literally throwing their hands up with joy as they exited the chamber. It’s an outcome that some lawmakers didn't expect after seeing the open sparring between moderate and progressive Democrats — overshadowed only by Pelosi’s own feud with the freshman “squad” — just weeks earlier.
“It’s not always pretty, it’s not neat. It’s often loud,” said Rep. Anthony Brown (D-Md.). “But I think she’s done a good job at harnessing our energy, our ideas and getting decent products off the floor.”
Pelosi demonstrated that, once again, she is a survivor: No dam-breaking toward impeachment. No more Twitter wars or quarrels with the four progressive congresswomen. And no displays of infighting to overtake their agenda.
"I know that you all have fun saying we have divisions," Pelosi told reporters Thursday evening. "We don't have divisions. We have differences of opinion."
House Democrats will leave Friday for their longest stretch away from Washington this year on a high point for the caucus, fresh off a bipartisan budget victory that earned Pelosi praise and reenergized many in the caucus after this month’s rough patch.
“A whole lot [of credit] goes to the speaker. This negotiation on this budget was her doing,” House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) said. “And I can’t think of one single person who does not feel that this is a much better deal than they ever thought she would get to.”
Pelosi and her leadership team also carefully maneuvered tricky policy fights that threatened to stir up tensions and derail the fragile detente Democrats reached last week. Legislation that was expected to cause an outcry — like a bill to condemn boycotts against Israel over the objections of progressives — was passed with little fanfare.
Democratic leaders avoided two other potential landmines — a resolution to reaffirm support for a two-state solution in Israel and a contentious border bill — by pulling the legislation all together rather than publicly expose ideological disputes among its members.
Democrats say their final days in session this week have felt far away from the policy brawls and Twitter spats that gripped the caucus earlier this month.
“That feels so long ago,” said Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.), chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.
“One minute, we can be upset with our colleagues. The next minute, we’re rallying around because we’re worried for their safety,” Bass said, referring to the caucus’ quick efforts to unite behind Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, who faced racist tweets from Trump last week.
