Speaker Pelosi? Not so fast

Newly elected members of Congress were in town for their orientation on how things work in Washington.

The first vote they’ll be casting in January is to elect a new speaker of the House.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has been vying to get back the speaker’s gavel since she lost it to a “red wave” of congressional Republicans eight years ago.

Pelosi is using the gender card in her race for speaker. She is pitching that a woman should be speaker given that the country just sent many women to Washington to represent their states and districts. In total, more than 100 women were elected to the House and Senate during the midterm elections.

Congresswoman Lois Frankel said, “…we have a pink wave with women who have brought back the House, then you’re going to not elect the leader who led the way? No. That would be wrong.”

However, more than 10 current or incoming Democratic members of Congress have publicly said they will not vote for Pelosi.

That will be a tough choice to make for a new member of Congress. Do you honor your promise to constituents and face the political wrath of Pelosi if she is elected speaker?

It appears the new Democrats have a traditionally Republican problem: herding cats.

Typically, Democrats are far better at the art of falling in line and doing as they’re told. Republicans? Not so much. With so many different factions within the Republican Party, especially in the House, it is often difficult for leaders of the party to wrangle their members to vote with them. This is a good and bad problem.

Now, another hurdle has popped up in Pelosi’s bid for speaker of the House. Enter: the Problem Solver’s Caucus. The bipartisan caucus is made up of 48 members, and 10 of its Democrats are refusing to support Pelosi unless she promises on paper to change House rules that currently promote gridlock.

The caucus has a proposal of 10 rule changes designed to make it easier to pass popular, bipartisan legislation that has stood still in the past.

As of press time, Pelosi has issued no such commitment.

The number of votes Pelosi will need to secure the position is still unknown, as some congressional races have yet to be called. However, if the Problem Solvers Caucus doesn’t get their way, along with those who’ve publicly said they’ll oppose Pelosi, she will have a very hard time getting enough votes to push her over the edge.

It will also be interesting to see how President Donald Trump’s tweet may affect votes. He said, “In all fairness, Nancy Pelosi deserves to be chosen speaker of the House by the Democrats. If they give her a hard time, perhaps we will add some Republican votes. She has earned this great honor!”

Folks are still guessing as to the sincerity in the tweet.

Editor’s note: Seymour Klierly writes Washington Whispers for the Journal from inside the Beltway.