Bid to Unify House Democrats Is Threatened by Tests on Issues House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will meet to bridge differences By Natalie Andrews
https://www.wsj.com/articles/bid-to-unify-house-democrats-is-threatened-by-splits-on-issues-11563976552
“Israel has been an especially sensitive topic within the caucus since Mses. Omar and Tlaib made remarks perceived as anti-Semitic earlier this year, upsetting Jewish lawmakers. Ms. Omar in February sent tweets that tied Jews to money and political influence. A month later, at an event in Washington, she accused politicians and special-interest groups, urging her and others to support Israel, of trying to “push for allegiance to a foreign country.” She drew rebukes that she was being anti-Semitic from lawmakers in both parties.All except one of the 17 lawmakers who opposed the nonbinding BDS resolution were Democrats, many of whom argue that state laws opposing the movement violate the First Amendment, a topic on which federal courts have split.”
The tenuous peace deal struck by the Democratic leadership between its moderate and liberal flanks is facing a series of tests as lawmakers confront differences within the party on topics ranging from spending to impeachment and Israel.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) is set to meet with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) on Friday in an effort to deal with acrimony that erupted when moderates encouraged the leadership to take up an emergency bill that sent $4.6 billion to the border, which progressives opposed. The meeting had originally been scheduled for Thursday.
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is one of four high-profile freshman lawmakers who have squabbled with the speaker and become a target for President Trump. But whatever happens between Mrs. Pelosi and Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, several legislative obstacles to House Democratic unity lie ahead before members’ six-week break.
This week, House Democrats will face a vote on a spending resolution and calls within the caucus to impeach the president.
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez and her allies in the House haven’t said whether they will support a spending bill that Mrs. Pelosi negotiated with the Trump administration.
Thus far, progressives haven’t signaled that they would oppose the deal, with several of those members saying Tuesday that they were undecided. But Ms. Ocasio-Cortez appeared to criticize on Twitter the deal that Mrs. Pelosi struck with the White House.
“Notice how whenever we pursue large spending increases + tax cuts for corporations, contractors & the connected, it’s treated as business as usual. But the moment we consider investing similar [money] in working class people (ex tuition-free college) they cry out it’s ‘unrealistic,’ ” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said.
Another split over spending likely awaits in the fall. Congress and Mr. Trump must strike an appropriations deal by Sept. 30 to keep the government from shutting down. Such a bipartisan agreement will inevitably include provisions to which liberal lawmakers object—or omit provisions they want—on subjects such as immigration and abortion.
Roughly 90 House Democratic lawmakers, meanwhile, support opening a presidential impeachment inquiry. Former special counsel Robert Mueller revealed little new information during a highly anticipated set of hearings before two House committees Wednesday, repeatedly directing lawmakers to his report.
Adding to pressure on lawmakers, delegates to the NAACP’s annual convention voted unanimously Tuesday to support impeaching the president. Derrick Johnson, the group’s president, tweeted that Mr. Trump is “unfit to serve this country.”
Mrs. Pelosi has worked to tamp down calls for impeachment, worrying they pose political risks to the moderate Democrats who helped the party win control of the House in 2018.
Rep. Juan Vargas (D., Calif.) said those in the caucus who have called for impeachment are growing anxious with those who haven’t joined them.
“The clock is ticking, and I think a lot of us that are calling for impeachment…are not losing patience, but at the same time don’t understand why if you do read the report, why you’re not calling for impeachment,” he said.
A vote Tuesday night on legislation to oppose the movement to boycott, divest and sanction Israel over its treatment of Palestinians, known as BDS, showed the distance between most House Democrats and Ms. Ocasio-Cortez as well as its two newest Muslim members: Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.
The vote itself, which passed overwhelmingly on a 398-17 tally, was a win for Blue Dog Democrats and those in the Problem Solvers caucus, groups with moderate Democrats who had pushed for the vote for weeks.
“The BDS movement is unfair,” said Rep. Eliot Engel, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, adding that the global BDS movement is “Israel-hating” and “Jew-hating” and “really supported by people who want to see the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state.’’
Israel has been an especially sensitive topic within the caucus since Mses. Omar and Tlaib made remarks perceived as anti-Semitic earlier this year, upsetting Jewish lawmakers. Ms. Omar in February sent tweets that tied Jews to money and political influence. A month later, at an event in Washington, she accused politicians and special-interest groups, urging her and others to support Israel, of trying to “push for allegiance to a foreign country.” She drew rebukes that she was being anti-Semitic from lawmakers in both parties.
All except one of the 17 lawmakers who opposed the nonbinding BDS resolution were Democrats, many of whom argue that state laws opposing the movement violate the First Amendment, a topic on which federal courts have split.
“Dissent is how we nurture democracy,” Ms. Tlaib, the daughter of Palestinian immigrants, said on the House floor Tuesday, saying that some of the country’s greatest advances in civil rights and workers’ rights were the result of a boycott and collective action.
“Americans boycotted Nazi Germany in response to dehumanization, imprisonment and genocide of Jewish people,” she said.
Write to Natalie Andrews at Natalie.Andrews@wsj.com
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Appeared in the July 25, 2019, print edition as ‘House Democrats Face Issues Tests.’
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