Black caucus not ready to endorse Pelosi deal

[ProSense]

Black caucus not ready to endorse Pelosi deal

By Russell Berman

The Congressional Black Caucus wants more details about the proposal to create a leadership position for Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.).

The Congressional Black Caucus is withholding its endorsement of a proposal by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to create a new Democratic leadership position for Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.).

The CBC met for nearly two hours on Monday to discuss the deal that Pelosi brokered to end a leadership battle between Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (Md.) and Clyburn, who had been vying for the second-ranking post of minority whip.

The caucus chairwoman, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), said after the meeting that the CBC wanted more details about Clyburn’s policy and strategy portfolio and was “reserving judgment” about the package the Speaker is offering.

“We fully support our current whip, Mr. Clyburn, for the No. 3 position and we’re currently reserving judgment on the entire package until we see what the actual portfolio entails in terms of responsibilities,” Lee told reporters.

more

Pelosi works to avoid defections in vote

By Russell Berman

When Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) faces Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) on Wednesday in a battle to lead the Democratic House minority, the question is not whether she will win, but how many votes she will lose.

Shuler, a former NFL quarterback, has threatened to challenge Pelosi for the party leadership since before the midterm elections. When Pelosi surprised Democrats by announcing her intent to remain as minority leader, Shuler initially stayed quiet. But on Sunday he repeated the pledge, saying that if Pelosi “doesn’t step aside, then I will challenge her.”

It marks a sharp turn for Shuler, who after his first election to Congress in 2006 brought his young daughter to the House floor to witness Pelosi being sworn in as the first female Speaker, according to an account in The Thumpin’, by Naftali Bendavid.

The North Carolina Democrat acknowledged that he lacks the “numbers to win” — a statement no member of the caucus would dispute. The Hill canvassed 18 offices of House Democrats who had publicly come out in opposition to Pelosi as minority leader, and just two — Reps. Larry Kissell (N.C.) and Jason Altmire (Pa.) — would commit to voting for Shuler.

more

[leveymg]

1. Steny is Mr. AIPAC, so everyone else now needs to jump through hoops

and get bent out of shape just to accommodate them. What we need now to be an effective House minority is progressive solidarity and unity, even if that means dispensing with the Blue Dogs and some Right-wing special interests with disproportionate influence.

Disgusting.

[Freddie Stubbs]

2. Clyburn is trying to use the loss of the majority to go from the #3 spot to the #2 spot in the

Democratic Caucus. He doesn't have the votes, so Pelosi is looking for a situation where Mr. Clyburn can save face and the CBC won't bellyache that there are no African-Americans in the leadership.

[leveymg]

4. Steny was originally supposed to step down. What happened?

That was the original plan - this has nothing to do with Clyburn's imputed ambitions to move up, or a sop to the CBC. It has to do with AIPAC throwing its weight around to keep Hoyer in a leadership position.

[Freddie Stubbs]

6. Where in the world did you get the idea that Hoyer was going to step down?

[leveymg]

7. Steve Kornacki in Salon - 11/08

Not that he would do so voluntarily, but it looked like he was being squeezed out when Pelosi decided to keep her position. http://mobile.salon.com/politics/war_room/2010/11/08/nancy_pelosi_mess/index.html

But then there's Steny Hoyer, the current House majority leader. It's tough to find the silver lining for him.

A week ago, just before the election, Hoyer was poised to succeed Pelosi as the top Democrat in the House, since it was widely assumed that Pelosi would step down from leadership -- and from her House seat -- if the Democrats lost their majority. Hoyer and Pelosi are longtime rivals (their relationship dates back to the early 1960s, when the native Marylanders both interned in the office of Sen. Daniel Brewster) and Pelosi had long gotten the better of Hoyer, besting him in a critical 2001 leadership contest (which set her on course to eventually claim the speaker's gavel) and aggressively maneuvering to limit his influence in leadership. When Hoyer's ally, New York Rep. Joe Crowley, was in position to grab the No. 4 Democratic leadership post in 2006, Pelosi pulled the rug out from under him and installed Connecticut's John Larson instead.

But with the GOP takeover looming, it looked like the 71-year-old Hoyer's moment would finally arrive. With Pelosi gone, he'd inherit the top slot virtually by default; in her zeal to insulate herself from potential challengers, Pelosi hadn't set anyone else up to take over for her. So Hoyer would become the new minority leader and, with a (very big) break in 2012, he'd actually end up as speaker.

Except that's not at all what's played out. Instead, not for the first time, Pelosi has stepped in and thwarted Hoyer's ambition. Her Friday announcement that she plans to stay in the House and run for minority leader essentially ruined Hoyer's plan. Pelosi only made the move when it was clear she'd have the votes, so Hoyer had little choice but to acknowledge reality and quickly back out of contention for the top slot. But that wasn't the end of it. As a minority party, Democrats will only have four leadership slots, instead of the five that they now enjoy. Someone will be left without a chair. With Pelosi moving to claim the minority leader's post, the next spot down is minority whip -- a slot that Hoyer is now running for. But the Democrats already have a whip, South Carolina's James Clyburn. And instead of moving down a notch himself, Clyburn is now running for minority whip, too.

Now, looks like that was a wee bit premature to call Steny the "Biggest Democratic Loser" of the last election.

[Freddie Stubbs]

9. Seems more like withful thinking on someone's part

[leveymg]

10. No, actually, unless the Repugs agreed to create another leadership post, Steny would've been out

Both sides have a limited number of slots under existing House rules. Looks like a deal was made with Cantor that kept Steny in place, and created a slot for a Teabagger - but, I hear, that's not a done deal. The Repugs have their own civil war going on the other side of the isle. Maybe, Steny isn't so secure, after all, so there's now an effort to pressure the CBC to get Clyburn to step away.

What an irony - Steny and Cantor are on the same team, leaving the Dems to fight it out. I wouldn't give then that satisfaction.

Dump Steny!

[Freddie Stubbs]

16. Can you back up your assertion that Cantor has agreed to change House Rules?

[leveymg]

20. You think it happened against the wishes of the incoming majority?

I don't think its going too far out on the limb to assume that if a rule had to changed, it was. And, was, gladly.

[Freddie Stubbs]

22. Are positions like Caucus Chairman even mentioned in House Rules?

[leveymg]

23. I think there are funding considerations for the designated seniority positions.

If you're more familiar with the current House Rules, please look this up and let us know what they say. Better yet, if it's posted somewhere, please link.

Thnx.

[Beacool]

15. That about sums it up.

:D

[asjr]

3. Togetherness is more than just a

four syllable word.

[leveymg]

5. You're right - it's 11 letters:

Clusterf-ck

Greatest Show on Earth under the Big Top.

[FBaggins]

8. What is this new position? "Token CBC member"?

How many members of the CBC lost their race this month?

[leveymg]

11. One - Rangel.

[FBaggins]

12. Rangel didn't lose his race.

He won by something like 70%.

[ej510]

13. Rep. Clyburn is fantastic at whipping up votes and brokering deals.

I've never heard Hoyer's name mentioned when it was time to get votes and broker deals.

[FBaggins]

14. Well... to be fair... one of them *IS* the whip.

You would expect to hear his name mentioned when performing whip functions.

[Freddie Stubbs]

18. If that is true, then Clyburn will have little trouble defeating Hoyer for the Whip position

[Freddie Stubbs]

17. How many CBC members ran in districts which weren't gerrymandered to be overwhelmingly Democratic?

Other than Allen West, of course.

[FBaggins]

19. Not "gerrymandered" since most are required by law...

...but I get the point.

I'm not trying to compare relative favorability in their districts... I'm talking about political muscle within the larger democratic caucus. I happen to think that the blue dogs are largely correct when they claim that the party leadership cost them their seats by going farther left than the public was prepared to support (and/or did a lousy job of selling the move)... but the simple fact of the matter is that there are now far fewer of them in the democratic caucus, while the CBC's power is undimmed.

If you can only have leadership representation for one of those two groups, the choice would seem obvious for a number of reasons... not the least of which is the fact that most of the party is closer to their position than the blue dogs.

[Freddie Stubbs]

21. Hoyer isn't a Blue Dog:

http://www.house.gov/melancon/BlueDogs/Member%20Page.html

[leveymg]

24. You don't have to be a member of the caucus to be "with them", or even their leader.

You don't even have to be a social conservative - Steny is a mainstream liberal on some issues - but, he is a reliable neocon on foreign policy issues, particularly those impacting Israel and the Middle-east, and he is a deficit hawk. See, http://www.tnr.com/blog/william-galston/steny-hoyer-speaking-the-truth

[laughingliberal]

26. Deficit hawk is all I need to hear to know I don't want him in leadership. nt

[FBaggins]

25. Nevertheless... his base of support is diminished with their passing.

n/t