We still have Nancy Pelosi to kick around for two more years. Barely: 216-209. If we’re lucky. If we’re not, it could be four. From The Epoch Times (reformatted, emphasis):
Pelosi Reelected as House Speaker in Tight Vote
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 216-209 to re-elect Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) as the speaker on Jan. 3 to lead the chamber’s narrowest majority in two decades. Five Democrats defected. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich), Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) and Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) voted “present.” Two Democrats voted for candidates other than Pelosi. Rep. Conor Lamb (D-Pa.) voted for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.). Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) voted for Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.)
“In a time marked by historically low trust in government, new voices are necessary to moving forward and achieving real progress,” Spanberger said in a statement. “Last Congress, I kept my promise to vote for new leadership upon my swearing-in—and in this Congress, I remain consistent in my commitment to ushering in new leadership. Accordingly, I did not vote for Speaker Pelosi.”
Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) initially did not respond when called to vote. Bush, a Black Lives Matter activist who was sworn into Congress earlier the same morning, is a member of the expanding progressive “squad.” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), the de facto leader of the squad, was also absent from the floor when it came to her turn to vote. Both later voted for Pelosi.
From Instapundit, a bit of a different view:
PELOSI REELECTED SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE:
Nancy Pelosi won reelection as Speaker of the House Sunday afternoon. House members voted to reelect Pelosi in a 216-208 party line vote on Sunday, the first day of the 117th Congress.
Yes, a discrepency from above (the 209 vs 208)
The vote left little room for error given Democrats’ razor-thin majority in the lower chamber and coronavirus quarantine measures that threatened to prevent several members from making it to the floor for the vote. Including Goya’s December Employee of the Month, and her fellow socialists: AOC and The Squad Sell Out, Help Reelect Pelosi Speaker.
Meanwhile, as Jim Treacher likes to say, “When Republicans screw up, that’s the story. When Democrats screw up, the Republicans’ reaction is the story.”
And in trots in the expected media bias – after all, it ALWAYS have to be the Republicans who are the bad boys
QED, this headline in The Hill today: House Republicans are attacking Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the Democrats after Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) tested positive for COVID-19 but arrived at the Capitol on Sunday in order to cast her vote for Speaker.
“Pelosi is putting the public’s health at risk to keep herself in power,” tweeted conservative Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.).
“Looks like @SpeakerPelosi’s proxy voting and remote hearing measures are only essential when her leadership position isn’t on the line,” Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) added in a separate tweet.
Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said it was “wrong” for Democrats to allow Moore to vote Sunday so soon after her diagnosis.
Because of Democrats’ narrow margins, Pelosi can only afford a handful of defections from Democratic rank-and-file members to retain the Speaker’s gavel another two years. That explains why she may have needed Moore, a Pelosi ally, to fly to Washington to cast her vote.
Well, I had thought that it COULD have happened, that disaffected Democrats might have been persuaded to vote “other than Pelosi”. If the 5 that had voted “present” had gone McCarthey, it would have been 211-216 and you would have seen Pelosi having to hand over the gavel. And the one with WuFlu, Moore, would have made it 210-216.
But then again, in this area of hyper-partisanship, the Republicans suffered only from some bad press (which is par for the course).
It remains to be seen for the Madame Speaker. If she decides to punish the Five Plus Two heavily, it may turn out to be a VERY long two years for her. Getting stripped of committee assignments would not engender support at a crucial point in time. Going through the motions, however, with a light slap on the wrist that would go away quickly would just do that status quo two-step and everyone would continue as normal.
Sidenote: So why did AOC meekly bow her knee – she ALREADY got stripped of the seats she wanted; what did she have to lose? Or was this “suck uptime” to Grandma Ice Cream?
So, now the Big Show is in three days – what do you think will happen?
