By The Prowler on 9.30.08 @ 12:50AM
Not just Speaker Pelosi but Rahm Emanuel obtain the desired result in yesterday's House vote.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ordered her Majority
Whip, Jim Clyburn, to essentially not do his job
in the runup to the vote on Monday for the negotiated Wall Street
bailout plan, according to House Democrat leadership aides.
"Clyburn was not whipping the votes you would have expected him
to, in part because he was uncomfortable doing it, in part because
we didn't want the push for votes to be successful," says one
leadership aide. "All we needed was enough to potentially get us
over the finish line, but we wanted the Republicans to be the ones
to do it. This was not going to be a Democrat-passed bill if the
Speaker had anything to say about it."
During the floor vote, House Majority Leader Steny
Hoyer and House Democrat Conference chair Rahm
Emanuel could be seen monitoring the vote on the floor,
and gauging whether or not more Democrat votes were needed. Clyburn
had expressed concerns, says the leadership aide, of being asked to
press members of the Black and Hispanic caucuses on a bill he was
certain those constituencies would not want passed.
"It worked out, because we didn't have a dog in this fight. We
negotiated. We gave the White House a bill. It was up to the
Republicans to get the 100 plus votes they needed and they couldn't
do it," said another Democrat leadership aide.
Emanuel, who served as a board member for Freddie Mac, one of
the agencies that precipitated the economic crisis the nation now
finds itself in, had no misgivings about taking a leadership role
in tanking the bill. "He was cheerleading us along, mothering the
votes," says the aide. "We wanted enough to put the pressure on the
Republicans and Congressman Emanuel was charged with making it
close enough. He did a great job."
Pelosi and her aides have made it clear they were not going to
"whip" or twist the arms of members who did not want to vote, but
they also made no effort to rally any support for a bill they
attempted to hijack over the weekend.
Further, according to House Oversight Committee staff, Emanuel
has received assurances from Pelosi that she will not allow what he
termed a "witch hunt" to take place during the next Congressional
session over the role Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac played in the
economic crisis.
Emanuel apparently is concerned the roles former Clinton
Administration members may have played in the mortgage industry
collapse could be politically -- or worse, if the Department of
Justice had its way, legally -- treacherous for many.
topics:
Nancy Pelosi
