Nancy Pelosi: Empty house for the Democrat?

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The arrival to power of Pelosi not only embarrasses Trump but demonstrates the fractures of the Democratic Party

Last week the US government started a new year with new representatives and next to this, there is the fact that thanks to the midterm elections there was a large female representation.

Leer en español: Nancy Pelosi ¿Partido dividido para la demócrata?

The Democrats, who dominated the House of Representatives, had an important mission: to choose the next president of that body. The chosen one turned out to be Nancy Pelosi, the woman who occupies the third most important position within the US government, behind President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.

It is not the first time that Pelosi comes to this position since from 2007 to 2011 she held the position as president of this same organization. Pelosi, 79, will be in charge of working with Donald Trump. But the thing will not be easy, because it is not a secret that the arrival of the Democrats to the power of one of the most important organisms of the American government, will put obstacles to the decisions that the president wants to take.

The above was already evident in the scenario of the 'shutdown' (closure) of the United States government and which is almost for 3 weeks without fulfilling its usual functions. To fulfill one of his campaign promises, the president asks for more than $ 5 billion dollars for the construction of the wall on the border with Mexico. Before the refusal, Donald Trump decided to close the government until such a budget was approved.

The statements of Pelosi in his possession as the president made it clear that he will not give the arm to twist "the legislative power is the first arm of the Government, equal to the presidency and the judiciary, as ABC newspaper recalls. At the meeting, held on December 4, the Democrats (again) did not reach an agreement, causing Trump to threaten to close the government "for weeks, even years," if necessary to reach an agreement.

You may be interested in reading: Trump vs. Democrats: Will there finally be a wall?

The era begins

In spite of the success and the recognition, to get to occupy the position Pelosi had to face a group of democrats denominated like the "rebels" or dissidents. This group did not agree with her coming to power, having as her main argument "the need for change," as The New York Times put it.

Within this group were Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Harley Rouda, Susie Lee, Chris Pappas, Cindy Axne, TJ Cox, Amy McGrath, George Scott, and Nancy Sodeberg according to The Washington Post.

In order to reach the necessary votes, Pelosi reached an agreement with the dissidents, agreeing that his time in power will be 4 years, without re-election option. However, and as stated by Christian Fong for The New York Times, if in 2020 the president is from the Democratic Party, Pelosi will seek a way to stay in power, despite the 82 years that he has at that moment. On the other hand, as president, she will have the job of "protecting bills, including budgets," as ABC states.

Read also: 2019: a good year for the Democratic Party

Empty house?

Since the candidatures to be president of the House of Representatives were announced, Pelosi was involved and expressed several times her desire to occupy the position. However, he had to face several of the new Democrats opposing his candidacy. Since then he had to move several pieces to ensure his candidacy, but was Pelosi the only option?

First, it should be noted that Pelosi is one of the most experienced Democrats in the US government (she has more than 10 years of professional career). Her ability as president of the House of Representatives was a plus when choosing another representative, but the biggest advantage is that there was never a clear competition.

Within the While the Democratic Party regained a number of seats within the most important body of the US government, its interior is very divided. the party there is no clear leader. Added to the above is the large number of Democrats who opposed a new period of Pelosi. These two factors were decisive for Pelosi was chosen as a candidate, and then win the final election.

It is clear that Nancy Pelosi, in fact, had the best scenario to return to exercise the third most important position in the United States, not only took advantage of their experience but managed to move the chips in their favor. It is important that you do things right, because otherwise, Democrats may enter into another identity crisis.

There is no doubt that with the arrival of the Democrat, the Republicans are faced with a stone in their shoes. Both Donald Trump and Nancy Pelosi will have to reach an agreement so that more than 800,000 federal officials receive their salary (another consequence of the 'shutdown'). Who will be the first to yield?

LatinAmerican Post | Laura Viviana Guevara Muñoz

Translated from "Nancy Pelosi ¿Casa vacía para la demócrata?"