House Democratic leaders face fallout over poorly timed floor vote fumbles
What they're saying: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), asked about these incidents by Axios, touted a different veterans bill Democrats forced to a successful floor vote on Thursday via a discharge petition.
Key points
- Why it matters: Skeptics of Democratic leadership have seized on these strategic fumbles to cast doubt on their much-heralded managerial abilities in the lead-up to the party's leadership elections next week.
- The outcome quickly sparked backlash because nearly a dozen House Democrats were absent, many of whom got caught in a traffic jam returning from an Elect Democratic Women event.
- "House Democrats once again successfully forced a vote on a piece of legislation designed to make life better for the American people," he said.
That was followed by an incident on Wednesday in which House Republicans passed a veterans bill by voice vote despite Democratic opposition.
Additional details
- The intrigue: Even some current and incoming House Democrats who are voting for Jeffries as speaker acknowledged the vote was a black eye.
- House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) did not respond to Axios' question and walked off the House floor into her office.
- Jeffries has always taken a more hands-off approach than his predecessor, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), preferring to let issues and fights among members resolve themselves.
- The incidents follow a procedural blowup in September in which a pair of centrist House Democrats repeatedly broke with leadership and helped the GOP advance key bills.
- Others said the upshot is that House Democrats need to do a better job of getting to votes on time: "The general consensus among the new members is on Jan.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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