Playbook: “Speaker Nancy Pelosi is calling the House back from summer recess Aug. 23 to vote on the party’s $3.5 trillion budget, but she has a problem: Six moderate House Democrats have indicated that they’ll oppose the fiscal blueprint unless the speaker puts the Senate-passed BIF up for a vote at the same time.”
“The speaker can lose only three votes. So this sets up another Washington staredown, this time pitting Pelosi against some of her most electorally vulnerable members, whom she often bends over backward to protect.”
“If we know anything from covering Pelosi and the House the past decade, it’s that she runs her caucus with “an iron fist in a Gucci glove.” Her ability to corral her members — whether with sweeteners like committee posts or by simply scaring them into line — is almost legendary. Cross her at your own peril.”
