Blame Spineless Democrats
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Blame Spineless Democrats - Video
Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrats) - Leaders Live
By: Bite News
Published November 18, 2014
Democrats re-elected Rep. Nancy Pelosi to another two-year term as House minority leader on Tuesday, two weeks after elections in which the party lost at least a dozen seats in the chamber.
In a closed-door meeting of House Democrats, Pelosi was re-elected by voice vote in a race in which she faced no challenger. The California Democrat has been party leader in the chamber since 2003, including four years in which she was the first female House speaker.
No. 2 House Democrat Steny Hoyer of Maryland and the party's other top leaders also were re-elected without a challenge.
"What we want are initiatives that help the American people, that reduce the anxiety because it reduces the income disparity," Pelosi told reporters after her election.
But touching on the need that Democrats see to improve their message to voters, she said that while it's important to address people's needs, "It's another thing, also, to make sure the public understands what is going on."
Pelosi, 74, was victorious despite some grumbling that the leadership needs fresh blood and that the party did an inadequate job of selling its policies to voters. Pelosi told her colleagues that Democrats need to do a better job of focusing on helping the middle-class, Democrats said.
"We need a full-blown discussion of who we are, where we're going, what are our priorities. If everything is a priority, nothing is a priority," said Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J. "It's all of our faults, not just the leadership."
Many Democrats also blamed their recent losses on an unfriendly political climate beyond their control, including President Barack Obama's unpopularity.
"Nancy did as good a job as she could do in this situation. It's very hard in an off-year, when people don't come out to vote," said Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., who also cited big campaign spending by Republican allies.
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House Democrats re-elect Pelosi as minority leader
WASHINGTON Senate Democrats blocked a move Tuesday to compel construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, dealing a sharp loss to one of their own, Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, who had pinned her hopes for re-election on approval of the measure.
The vote was a victory for environmental activists who have turned defeat of the pipeline into one of the central symbolic causes of their movement. But Republicans, who will take majority control of the Senate in the next Congress, vowed to return to the fight next year.
On a 59-41 roll call, Landrieus campaign fell one vote shy of passing legislation meant to force President Barack Obama to approve the nearly 1,700-mile, $7.6 billion project, which would deliver 830,000 barrels of oil a day from western Canada to the American heartland.
With just 14 Democrats backing it, Landrieus bill fell victim to a filibuster by her own party. All 45 Republicans voted for the House-passed measure.
In rejecting the bill, the Senate granted Obama a temporary reprieve from a difficult decision: whether to side with the environmentalists who have been his staunch allies or with many moderate Democrats who hope to use the issue to win over swing voters.
Already six years in the making, the Keystone fight had become a final rallying cry for Landrieu, a three-term senator facing a runoff Dec. 6. With her Keystone campaign, she placed a political bet on demonstrating both her clout in Washington and her independence from a very unpopular Obama.
She already faced a steep climb in a conservative state dominated by energy interests, and her task is now even tougher. If she loses next month, Republicans will hold a majority, with 54 seats come January, up from their current 45.
This is for Americans, for an American middle class, Landrieu pleaded Tuesday evening, moments before the vote, arguing that jobs related to the pipeline would go to rural American communities struggling in the economic recovery. The time to act is now.
She then thanked the Democratic colleagues who supported her, including three who lost their elections this month. Once the roll call started, Landrieu stood mostly by herself in the chamber but at one point shared a hug with Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., one of the losing incumbents.
Supporters argue that the Canada-to-Texas pipeline would lead to more efficient delivery of oil into domestic markets, helping secure a reliable source of energy, boosting the national economy and creating jobs tied to the pipelines construction.
Washington House Democrats reelected Nancy Pelosi as minority leader on Tuesday. The voice vote sounded unanimous, according to people who were in the caucus room when it happened.
But that doesnt mean everybody there was happy about Representative Pelosi winning another two-year leadership term. Losing breeds backbiting, in politics as in sports, and the intramural grumbling about House Democrats mid-term beat-down is getting louder, if blind quotes in news reports are any guide.
Democratic candidates should have focused more on the economic concerns of middle-class voters. Party leaders should have better identified, and then helped, members at risk. Democratic members should not have followed President Obamas lead so closely on major policy issues. And so forth and so on.
Even Pelosi supporters said it was time for House Democrats as a whole to take a good, hard look at where theyre headed.
We need a full-blown discussion of who we are, where were going, what are our priorities. If everything is a priority, nothing is a priority, said Rep. Bill Pascrell of New Jersey, according to the Associated Press. Its all of our faults, not just the leadership.
Politicos John Bresnahan and Lauren French have a good rundown today of the dissatisfaction in the Democratic ranks, including some rare on-the-record criticism. Among other things, it points out that the Congressional Black Caucus is upset that the party didnt provide more money and support to Rep. Steven Horsford of Nevada, the first African-American elected from the Silver State. Representative Horsford lost in November despite representing a majority Democratic district.
We believe that certainly our leadership worked hard, but there obviously was something lacking because we lost so many seats. I want to see members who have a better handle on the caucus brought in, whether they be young or old, said Rep. Marcia Fudge, Congressional Black Caucus chair, according to Politico.
Some in the party are also upset the Pelosi is not allowing Rep. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois to cast a proxy vote in this weeks leadership election.
Representative Duckworth is a double amputee and Iraq War veteran who cannot travel at the moment, due to pregnancy. Pelosi has denied her the ability to have someone else vote according to her wishes, saying that caucus rules have long banned proxy voting, and it would be hard to hold that line after making an exception.
According to Roll Call, some members are privately seething that blocking Duckworths vote is really about stacking the deck in favor of Pelosis candidate for ranking member on the Energy and Commerce Committee, fellow Californian Rep. Anna Eshoo. Representative Eshoo is running against Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. of New Jersey in a contested bid for the post.
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House Democrats reelect Nancy Pelosi leader. Was there grumbling? (+video)