As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi continues to deny President Trump border-wall funding that would end the ongoing government shutdown, eight House Democrats broke ranks with leadership Wednesday by voting against an amendment that would deny funding.
The amendment still passed 230-197, but here are the Democrats who voted against it:
New York Democratic Rep. Anthony Brindisi, South Carolina Democratic Rep. Joe Cunningham, Oklahoma Democratic Rep. Kendra Horn, New Jersey Democratic Rep. Andy Kim, Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. Conor Lamb, Minnesota Democratic Rep. Colin Peterson, Michigan Democratic Rep. Elise Slotnik, and New Jersey Democratic Rep. Jeff Van Drew.
“I have said multiple times that I support some element of a physical barrier as part of an overall package on border security, but it’s also got to include more funding for border agents, it’s got to include more technology,” Brindisi told Vox. “But I’ve always been consistent in saying if the experts tell us a physical barrier makes sense, I will support it.”
“One day after Democrats rejected a lunch invitation to meet with President Trump to discuss ways for both sides of the border debate to find a solution to fund the federal government and end the partial shutdown these eight Democrats found themselves parting ways with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over an amendment proposed by House Rules Chairman Jim McGovern,” the Daily Caller reports.
Eight House Republicans broke ranks and voted with Democrats today to pass a spending measure to end the partial government shutdown without funding for Trump's border wallhttps://t.co/TgQb9FAiHf
— Axios (@axios) January 9, 2019
“At a House Democratic caucus meeting Tuesday Pelosi reportedly told Democrats to stay together when it came to border funding in relation to the government shutdown,” the Caller continued.
Apparently they didn’t all stay together. These eight Democrats rejected Pelosi’s ongoing stubbornness on this front.
“I left thinking that both sides realize that we’ve got to find a way out of this and that because there is a real openness. So I left me feeling like we’ve got to work on this because there’s a way that was I thought that’s why it’s not a constructive conversation but we’ve got to keep talking,” New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer told reporters.
“And I really think that was for me the big take away — we got to keep at this,” he added.
Are these Democrats feeling heat back in their districts to reopen the government? Are President Trump’s hardball tactics beginning to work?