Nancy Pelosi had a plan. Democrats were outnumbered, obviously, and she no longer had the power to impose her will the way she did when she was speaker of the House. But neither did the current speaker, John A. Boehner (R-Ohio).
With a partial Department of Homeland Security shutdown looming, Pelosi saw a way to torpedo Boehner, and get exactly what she and other Democrats wanted for President Obama. The plan was simple: when Boehner needed her the most, she would not be there for him.
She explained her plan to Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) in a private meeting in Reids office. He concurred. She encouraged her caucus to reject Boehners proposal for a stopgap DHS funding bill, knowing that Boehner could not sufficiently rally his own caucus to pass the bill without Democratic help.
Five days later, Democrats got exactly what they wanted: DHS was fully funded without any rollback of Obamas executive actions on immigration.
Four months after getting kicked to the curb in the November midterm elections, Democrats across the country are still licking their wounds, quarreling over the partys direction and messily plotting their path back to power in 2016. But inside the halls of Congress, they arent acting like a dejected minority.
[Boehners problem isnt just House Republicans. Its House Democrats, too.]
Instead, House Minority Leader Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Reid have been deftly navigating the big legislative debates to maximum advantage, thwarting the new majorities early ambitions and protecting Obama from the GOP assaults on his agenda.
Their strategy? Stick together when the other side doesnt. It sounds simple enough. But it wasnt always clear to Democratic leaders that they could pull it off.
When we first got back in January, everyone was pretty depressed, said Sen. Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.), the third-ranking Senate Democrat. The party had just lost its Senate majority and watched Republicans claim their largest House majority in decades.
Republicans doubt Democrats can hold their members together as well in future debates in which there is more potential for fracturing. They charge Democrats shut down debate over DHS funding and are moving to protect Obamas agenda at all costs.
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Pelosi shows Democrats how to wield power despite House GOP majority