Speaker Nancy Pelosi is working to pacify her fractured caucus ahead of a three-week legislative sprint that threatens to further expose the divisions simmering among House Democrats.
Pelosi and her lieutenants have planned a series of votes this month to satisfy both wings of the party, desperate for a reset heading into the recess beginning in August as fallout from a messy border spending feud continues to roil the caucus.
The House could vote as soon as next week to hold two top Trump administration officials in criminal contempt over the 2020 census — a move designed, in part, to appease Democrats itching to launch impeachment proceedings against the president.
To further placate progressives, Pelosi unveiled a package of immigration bills on Tuesday that contains many of the priorities scrapped from the $4.6 billion humanitarian aid bill that left liberals fuming at the end of June. For moderates, the House plans to vote on election security legislation and a controversial resolution condemning the boycott movement against Israel.
In addition, other potentially dicey situations — including former special counsel Robert Mueller's testimony next week and contentious budget negotiations — could derail Democratic leaders' effort to preserve the peace.
"I think we need to move forward," said Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who spoke up in defense of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) after Pelosi disparaged her and other progressive freshmen in a weekend column.
"People left embarrassed and ashamed at the way this country is treating kids and everyone who is in power in the Congress, it's on our watch," he said. "[But] I think it's not going to deter from the agenda for House Democrats and we're going to get things done."
But many of the bills pose complications of their own: Some Democrats privately fear that an end-of-the-month vote on a resolution condemning the global boycott movement against Israel, for example, will resurface an ugly fight over anti-Semitism that resulted in Twitter spats between senior chairmen and freshman lawmakers.
The border legislation later this month could drag Democrats back into an immigration fight that moderates are loath to relive. And another progressive priority that will come to the floor this month — a $15 hourly minimum wage bill — has been a tough sell to some centrists who have feared its impact on small businesses.
"I think we're going to navigate those one by one," Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) said of the potential legislative landmines lurking this month. "We're going to continue to have robust debates on some of these issues, I think that's good."
After six months of relative public peace, progressive and moderate members have shown they're willing to force leadership's hand on key issues, even if it pits key factions of the Democratic caucus against each other in stark public fashion.
"What I've learned out of this process — they'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today," Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) said of how many progressives felt swindled by Democratic leaders during the border debate.
After months of attempting to downplay divisions, Pocan publicly railed against a group of moderate Democrats over the border fight, calling them the "child abuse caucus." The name-calling on Twitter by a senior progressive leader shocked other Democrats, and prompted several members to confront Pocan — putting the intraparty discord on display on the House floor.
"Everyone was worried about progressive caucus becoming the tea party of the left, and it looks — at least for that moment — it was the Problem Solvers who were the tea party of the left," Pocan said, unapologetic about the high-profile squabble with two centrist freshmen last month.
And the jam-packed schedule in July comes at a tenuous time for Pelosi. Fresh off her first major defeat in her second stint as speaker, the California Democrat faced a wave of backlash from Ocasio-Cortez and liberal activists over her comments questioning the squad's sway in Congress.
"All these people have their public whatever and their Twitter world," Pelosi told the New York Times. "But they didn't have any following. They're four people, and that's how many votes they got."
The four high-profile freshmen — Ocasio-Cortez along with Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts — had all voted against the House emergency border aid package in June.
But Pelosi noted that they failed to take down the House's contentious border bill, despite their millions of followers on social media. Tensions spilled over into this week, as Ocasio-Cortez and other Democrats took the rare step to criticize their own leader.
And New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic Caucus Chairman, notably declined to acknowledge "the squad" by name when asked about the Pelosi-vs.-progressives spat Tuesday night.
"Who?" Jeffries said when asked about "the squad."
"I respect every single member of the House Democratic Caucus, including those four individuals," he added.
It's the most visible split within the Democratic caucus since March, when lawmakers were last openly clashing with one another over a series of controversial comments by Omar — leading to one of Pelosi's first public stumbles as speaker.
Several senior Democrats are worried the political furor from that period could resurface amid a new debate this month over the anti-boycott movement bill — which had been promised to senior Jewish lawmakers this spring after the falling out over anti-Semitism.
Critics of the idea say they've faced pushback from some Democratic leaders, including House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), who will lead his own trip with dozens of members to Israel over the August recess.
Democratic Caucus Vice Chair Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) said the issue was a "work in progress," and noted that she hasn't decided whether to support it on the floor.
"We are seeing a lot of groups from sort of across the political spectrum getting behind this resolution," Clark said. "I'm hopeful that the caucus can work it out."
Democrats also plan to revisit the thorny issue of immigration at the center of last month's blow-up, with plans to vote on a package of bills to address the humanitarian crisis on the border just before leaving for a lengthy summer recess.
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, released legislation late Tuesday that addresses a long policy wish list from progressives and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus — two key groups that felt ignored when the House decided to take up the Senate border bill last month.
Among other provisions, the legislation would require "humane conditions" for short-term detention centers, require facilities to obtain licenses before caring for migrants and require ongoing audits by the Department of Homeland Security's own watchdog.
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), who leads the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, has spoken directly with Pelosi multiple times in the past week as he's made clear what his members want to see on the floor in the coming weeks.
Castro and other Hispanic caucus leaders had initially wanted to see the border provisions tucked into the House spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security — which would force further talks with the Senate. But Pelosi and other spending leaders have decided not to put the bill on the floor, instead going ahead with largely symbolic bills to protect migrants at the border.
"We've been pressing for these pieces of legislation for a while," Castro said of the newly unveiled legislation. "We've been working with the speaker to figure out the best time and way to get these done. So I'm glad to see that they're going to move forward."
Asked whether the legislation would address lingering concerns about last month's border funding fight, Castro replied, "That's a longer conversation."
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