House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was once a card-carrying member of the far-left House Progressive Caucus. She left only to become party leader in 2003.
Now in her leadership role, she’s feuded with some of the upstart caucus members.
On Friday, that feud was reignited after a bombshell report from Punchbowl News… and Pelosi isn’t looking her best.
Two reporters for The New York Times are writing a book about the first year of Joe Biden’s presidency. In the book, they addressed Pelosi’s fight to pass the bipartisan infrastructure law despite hardball tactics from the Progressive Democrats.
“In private she vented about the progressive blockade that had forced her to cancel the infrastructure vote,” the book said, according to Conservative Brief.
Pelosi reportedly took issue with Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and caucus member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“She told another House Democrat that Pramila Jayapal and Ocasio-Cortez were vying to be the ‘queen bee’ of the left, but that their reward might be serving in the House minority after the next election.”
Pelosi also took issue with these congresswomen for sloganeering about socialism, “Defund the Police,” and abortion. She blamed them for the Democrats’ poor performance with minorities in 2020.
“In a few strictly confidential conversations she pointed a finger leftward. Pelosi told one senior lawmaker that Democrats had alienated Asian and Hispanic immigrants with loose talk of socialism,” the book says, according to Conservative Brief.
“In some of the same communities, the Italian Catholic speaker said, Democrats had not been careful enough about the way they spoke about abortion among new Americans who were devout people of faith.”
Pelosi has feuded with Ocasio-Cortez before. In 2019, she angered the House Progressives by making inflammatory comments during an interview with Times columnist Maureen Dowd.
“If the left doesn’t think I’m left enough, so be it,” Pelosi told Dowd. “As I say to these people, come to my basement. I have all these signs about single-payer from 30 years ago. I understand what they’re saying. But we have a responsibility to get something done, which is different from advocacy. We have to have a solution, not just a Twitter fight.”
Ocasio-Cortez accused Pelosi of dismissing her outreach effort.
Take a look —
“A glass of water could’ve [beat a 20-yr incumbt]”
“The Green Dream or whatever”
“Their public whatever”Those aren’t quotes from me; they‘re from the Speaker. Having respect for ourselves doesn’t mean we lack respect for her.
It means we won’t let everyday people be dismissed. https://t.co/VMRkcd8xlL
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 8, 2019
At the time, Pelosi chided the press for focusing too much on this feud and too little on the U.S. Southern border crisis.
She told Dowd at the time, “With all due respect, the press likes to make a story that is more about Democrats divided than the fact that Mitch McConnell doesn’t care about the children.”
On Friday, Pelosi’s office told Fox News Digital something similar about this current feud.
“Under the Speaker’s leadership, House Democrats have made historic progress for the American people and are unified by the common purpose of addressing the needs of hardworking families,” Pelosi spokesperson Drew Hammill told Fox.
“Many books will be written about the challenges of legislating during the pandemic and a period of unprecedented Republican obstruction, and we won’t be commenting on the works that substitute gossip for fact.”
Jayapal and Ocasio-Cortez did not respond to Fox’s request for comment.
The book — This Will Not Pass by Alexander Burns and Jonathan Martin — will hit shelves May 3.
The Horn editorial team