House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is facing dissent in her caucus ahead of Tuesday’s vote to confirm the passage of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill.
With the Democrats’ slim 221-211 House advantage, Pelosi can afford no more than four defections in the vote scheduled for Tuesday.
But two members of her caucus, Reps. Marcia Fudge of Ohio and Deb Haaland of New Mexico, could be confirmed to Biden administration posts as soon as Wednesday.
That gives extra weight to the whines coming from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other left-leaning House comrades after some of their major initiatives were stripped out of the American Rescue Plan Act — and could test Pelosi’s ability to keep her troops in line.
AOC retweeted a message from her fellow Democrat, New Jersey Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, Friday night.
“What are we doing here?” Watson Coleman griped in a tweet that bemoaned the elimination of a federal minimum-wage increase and a cut to unemployment benefits. “I’m frankly disgusted with some of my colleagues and question whether I can support this bill,” she added.
AOC’s fellow Squad member, Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, echoed Watson Coleman’s irritation.
“We obviously are now ultimately sending money to less people than the Trump administration and the Senate majority Republicans,” Omar told CNN in a Friday interview.
“Ultimately it is a failure when we compromise ourselves out of delivering on behalf of the American people and keeping our promises.”
Two moderate House Democrats, Jared Golden of Maine and Kurt Schrader of Oregon, joined Republicans to vote against the relief bill last week.
