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House Democratic LeaderNancy Pelosiof California may run the minority party in the House, but the current maneuvering over a must-pass spending bill could serve as an example of how she still holds some power.

The Republican-controlled House faces a Dec. 11 deadline to pass a spending bill or risk a repeat of the government shutdown that occurred last year. To pass the measure, GOP leaders may need some Democratic votes, partly because a bloc of conservative Republicans is unhappy that the spending bill does not do enough to stop President Barack Obama from shielding millions of illegal immigrants from deportations.

Democrats have said their support depends on the contents of the spending measure, which is expected to be released next week. That gives Mrs. Pelosi some leverage, but at a news briefing Friday she did not show her cards as to how, if at all, she plans to wield it.

Withholding Democratic votes could risk another government shutdown an outcome that Democrats have worked to avoid out of a belief that such brinkmanship is irresponsible. The same thinking is also the reason Democrats supplied the votes to raise the U.S. borrowing limit in February, even though the vote subject members of the caucus to attacks on the campaign trail.

As it relates to shutting down the government, call us responsible, Mrs. Pelosi told reporters.

A vote next week on the spending bill will provide a new test. Mrs. Pelosi cited concerns that the measure would include provisions that she feared might weaken school-lunch and clean water standards. She said that there are some very destructive riders in it that would be unacceptable to us and I think unacceptable to the American people.

Some of those provisions, she said, would bepolicies Democrats would not support. But she stopped short of threatening to take down the legislation over any particular provision. Im not saying any one of them is a deal breaker, but Im saying these are an array of concerns that we have.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) also said in a statement Friday that he is encouraged by his recent conversations with Republicans and that he looks for the House to send the Senate a clean funding bill meaning one free of policy riders.

A spokeswoman for House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R., Ky.) suggested that Republicans wouldnt advance anything that would alienate the entire Democratic caucus. We expect to have a bill ready to file on Monday, the spokeswoman said on Friday. Our intention is to craft a bipartisan product that members on both sides can support.

That was the same message that House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) delivered a day earlier. I expect that well have bipartisan support to pass the omnibus appropriation bill, Mr. Boehner said.

Read more:
Democrats Arent Showing Their Cards Yet in Spending Bill Strategy