Pelosi loyalists speaking up
Neal, other top House Dems seek to block ‘silent majority’
WASHINGTON — Bay State U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, who’ll helm the powerful Ways and Means Committee when Democrats assume House control in January, strongly urged his colleagues to back Nancy Pelosi for speaker, an effort to thwart brewing opposition from party members including U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton.
The Springfield Democrat sent fellow House members a letter, obtained yesterday by the Boston Herald, calling Pelosi “a shrewd, battletested negotiator who understands how to out-maneuver Republicans.”
Neal called Pelosi “the right person to lead our caucus,” adding that voters “want someone who will fight for their priorities, but also seek common ground.”
Pelosi’s communications office quickly recirculated the letter to members yesterday.
Neal joins other top Democrats in endorsing Pelosi, including incoming Intelligence Committee chair Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), who will helm the Oversight Committee and Rep. Jerry Nadler (R-N.Y.) who will lead the Judiciary Committee.
All four incoming chairmen have vowed to open investigations into President Trump’s administration and campaign in recent days. Neal said he would seek Trump’s tax returns when he controls the committee.
The move comes just days after Moulton tweeted about a “silent majority” of House Democrats who want to block Pelosi from reclaiming the House gavel. Two years ago Moulton backed an unsuccessful bid by U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) to oust Pelosi from her Democratic leadership post.
House sources said that while they expect an insurgent push by Pelosi’s critics to block her, that effort will be an uphill battle. Pelosi, coming off big wins in the midterms, is expected to use her negotiating skills to protect her path to the speakership, using key committee assignments and leadership roles to bring opponents and undecided caucus members to her side — or at least convince them to vote “present” or skip the vote rather than vote against her.
Meanwhile, 14 other Pelosi supporters in the House sent another letter to members urging them not to change caucus rules — such as dropping the threshold for the number of votes needed to advance a speaker nominee — in an effort to protect Pelosi’s bid.
So far no one has announced a challenge to Pelosi. In July Moulton said he would not seek the leadership post.