Opinion

How Pelosi can give the rebels a way out of the hostage crisis they created

What happens when the Democratic Party desperately wants to pass two significant spending bills, but the party’s margin in the House is so small that even nine conservative Democrats can hold the whole project hostage?

We’re finding out right now, as a group led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) is trying to use its leverage to force an immediate vote on the bipartisan infrastructure plan already passed by the Senate. They are threatening to vote against moving the process forward on the much larger $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill — the first step toward eventual passage of that bill — to compel immediate passage of the infrastructure measure.