House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi warns her GOP counterparts that they’ll have to pass legislation to fund the government on their own, unless they quit playing hardball, return to negotiations and meet Democrats halfway on a number of key issues.
“I hope they have the votes for it,” Pelosi told reporters at her weekly Captiol briefing, “because if they don’t they won’t be getting any cooperation from us.”
That’s a tall order for House GOP leadership. Dozens of rank and file Republicans oppose these appropriations because they’re based on a compromise Speaker John Boehner cut with Congressional Dems and the White House on overall spending. These members want to slash federal programs much more dramatically, and have defected from leadership in great enough numbers that on key votes Boehner and his leadership team have needed Democratic help to achieve a majority vote.
Boehner et al will have to count on those members members holding their noses and siding with their leadership as a thumb in the eye to Democrats and President Obama.
Brian Beutler
Brian Beutler is TPM's senior congressional reporter. Since 2009, he's led coverage of health care reform, Wall Street reform, taxes, the GOP budget, the government shutdown fight, and the debt limit fight. He can be reached at brian@talkingpointsmemo.com.
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