Nancy Pelosi may be facing her 'biggest challenge' as speaker

(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

published 25 September 2021

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) helped Democrats push through Obamacare back in 2010, but while that took a grueling effort, her current goal of wrangling support for the dual track bipartisan infrastructure and reconciliation budget bills may be the more gargantuan task thanks to the moderate-progressive split that has unfolded among Democratic lawmakers, Politico reports.

Rep. Anthony Brown (D-Md.) said he's "got a lot of faith" in Pelosi, who has "worked a lot of magic," but he told Politico he's still concerned the strategy could fail. "This is probably the biggest challenge that she's ever faced, that we as a caucus have faced," he said.

Pelosi herself has reportedly privately told her colleagues in recent weeks that she's well-aware of just how high the stakes are. As Politico writes, this time around Pelosi is dealing with the narrowest majority she's had, giving her little room to maneuver on such significant legislation. And it also may be her last term in Congress, so "the outcome of the coming weeks could effectively be the denouement of her long career." Read more at Politico.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox