House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi removed one of the last hurdles standing in front of her becoming the next speaker of the House after Democrats from the Problem Solvers Caucus announced Wednesday they had won enough concessions to support her bid.
Members of the Problem Solvers have been pushing Mrs. Pelosi to accept changes to the rules of the House that would empower individual members and promote bipartisanship.
“We said from the moment that we began our work on these reforms six months ago, that we would only support a Speaker who was willing to agree to rules changes that would help Break the Gridlock,” the nine Democrats from the group said in a statement. “We have reached such an agreement with Leader Pelosi to help Break the Gridlock for the American people and will support her, so these rules and reforms can be adopted in January.”
The news marks another breakthrough for Mrs. Pelosi who has gradually taken apart the opposition to her speaker’s bid.
The announcement also came shortly before House Democrats picked their leadership team, giving Mrs. Pelosi some added momentum as she looks to put a nail in the coffin of her remaining naysayers and project an aura of inevitability heading into the final vote for speaker early next month in the House.
Mrs. Pelosi and Rep. James P. McGovern, the ranking member on the rules committee, said the New Democratic-controlled House will be committed to “having an open, bipartisan and unifying Congress.”
“After consulting with our committee ranking members, we’re happy to announce that we’ve reached an agreement with the Problem Solvers Caucus Democrats to support a series of reforms for the 116th Congress,” they said in a joint statement. “These proposals will provide a more accommodating and respectful process that will help us in our mission to return to the principle that ideas matter in the House of Representatives.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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