Pelosi clinches deal

Pelosi clinches deal with rebels in speakership standoff

The California Democrat has agreed to limit her time as speaker to four years at most.

By HEATHER CAYGLE, RACHAEL BADE and JOHN BRESNAHAN

Nancy Pelosi struck a deal Wednesday with Democratic rebels intent on denying her the speakership, paving the way for her to reclaim the gavel she lost eight years ago.

The California Democrat has agreed to limit her time as speaker to four years at most. In return, a critical number of lawmakers who vowed to oppose Pelosi will support her in a crucial Jan. 3 House floor vote.

The proposal also limits the time her two deputies, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Assistant Democratic Leader Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), can stay in their posts, although those changes will likely have to be ratified by the full caucus.

“Over the summer, I made it clear that I see myself as a bridge to the next generation of leaders, a recognition of my continuing responsibility to mentor and advance new Members into positions of power and responsibility in the House Democratic Caucus,” Pelosi said in a statement announcing the agreement.

The accord is a major triumph for Pelosi, who has spent the past several weeks engaged in a full-court lobbying campaign to line up the remaining votes she needed to clinch the speakership.

Following her announcement seven of Pelosi‘s critics released a joint statement endorsing her for speaker.

“We wish to thank Nancy Pelosi for her willingness to work with us to reach this agreement," the lawmakers wrote. "We are proud that our agreement will make lasting institutional change that will strengthen our caucus and will help develop the next generation of Democratic leaders. We will support and vote for Nancy Pelosi for Speaker of the House in the 116th Congress.”

The proposal will come up for a vote before Feb. 15. Even it it fails, Pelosi has promised to abide by the rules as if they were enacted, limiting her tenure to a maximum of four years.

The proposal limits the top three Democrats to three terms in their current leadership posts. The leaders have an option to pursue a fourth term but must win two-thirds support of the caucus to do so. Currently only a majority is required.

The term limits are retroactive, meaning the four years Pelosi served as speaker beginning in 2007 would count against her. The same goes for Hoyer and Clyburn, meaning the longest the three of them can serve in their current posts is through 2022, though they could serve in other leadership positions.

The deal came after days of wrangling between Pelosi and the rebel camp over the terms of what is an unprecedented agreement, one that marks a major win for the group of a dozen-plus Pelosi critics.

Until now, Pelosi has rebuffed any attempts by the group to get her to provide details about when she will step down, defiantly refusing to say how long she planned to serve as speaker or what a transition to new leadership might look like.

But that has all changed after a week of intense negotiations, mostly through talks with Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.), who has served as a conduit between the longtime Democratic leader and the coalition of lawmakers who promised to oppose her on the floor.

Perlmutter has a personal relationship with Pelosi and is the closest to her out of the current and incoming Democrats who signed a letter opposing her speakership.

Pelosi met with Perlmutter and two others in the group of critics — Reps. Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.) and Bill Foster (D-Ill.) — on Tuesday afternoon to hammer out final details. The lawmakers then presented the pact to the broader group on a conference call Wednesday morning. The agreement was formally announced Wednesday afternoon, although POLITICO first reported details of the compromise earlier this week.

The seven rebels who agreed to support Pelosi on the floor as part of the deal are Reps. Perlmutter, Sánchez, Foster, Filemon Vela of Texas, Tim Ryan of Ohio and Seth Moulton of Massachusetts will back Pelosi, as will Rep.-elect Gil Cisneros of California.

Rep. Kathleen Rice of New York, another rebel, still plans to vote against Pelosi in January, as do at least a handful of incoming freshmen who campaigned against the Democratic leader this year.

Under the agreement, Pelosi will not retaliate against her critics, sources familiar with the agreement said.

As speaker, Pelosi has the power to make the lives of her adversaries miserable. She can keep members from serving on their favored panels, refuse to move their legislation and make them ineffective in other ways.

Knowing this, the rebels pushed her to promise not to do so, calling for “fair treatment” of her critics.

While the compromise clears the path for Pelosi to return to the speaker’s chair, it’s likely to set off a heated debate within the broader Democratic Caucus. Term limits is one of the most controversial and divisive issues for House Democrats, often pitting members against each other along both generational and racial lines.

Pelosi has agreed to abide by the term limits for her speakership even if the caucus doesn’t approve the proposed changes. Hoyer and Clyburn, meanwhile, were expressing opposition even before the deal was announced.

Hoyer, the incoming majority leader, has already staked out his position, declaring on Tuesday he’s against the idea and emphasizing that Pelosi doesn’t “negotiate for me.”

Clyburn told POLITICO on Wednesday evening, just before the announcement, that Pelosi had not consulted him on the deal and had yet to share details of the agreement. He panned the idea, citing concern for younger black lawmakers looking to move into leadership positions in the future.

“I stand squarely with the Congressional Black Caucus’ position … The caucus is adamantly opposed to term limits and seniority modifications,” Clyburn said. “I’m not concerned about me. I’m concerned about those young people in the Congressional Black Caucus and whether or not these modifications will have an adverse impact on them … We didn’t come here privileged.”

Any vote to impose term limits on current and future Democratic leaders likely won’t happen until the start of January, when the 60-plus Democratic freshmen are back in town, according to incoming Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries of New York.

Given the tight time crunch before the Jan. 3 speaker’s vote, the caucus could vote on the rules changes after Pelosi has been elected speaker. Still, the rebels said they’re confident in the agreement given that Pelosi has promised to impose the limits on herself, no matter the decision by the broader caucus.

In the meantime, the proposed term limits could trigger a fierce behind-the-scenes intra-party battle in the weeks leading up to the speaker’s vote.

Several members of the CBC spoke out against the idea Wednesday, saying that leaders already face potential limits on their tenure every two years when they run for reelection.

“Let’s vote and whoever wins, wins. That’s term limits,” said Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), incoming chairman of the House Oversight Committee. “I don’t believe in changing the rules in the middle of the game, okay?”

The CBC has long been opposed to term limits, particularly for committee chairmen, arguing such a cap would unfairly harm minority lawmakers, who spent years, sometimes decades, working their way to the top.

“I don’t believe in term limits, I think [Pelosi] has the votes and I think this whole thing about these guys needing something so they can land the damn plane is getting silly,” said CBC Chairman Cedric Richmond (D-La.). “Land the plane, vote for her and let’s please get on with trying to raise the minimum wage or something.”

Some of the Pelosi critics had also floated term limits for committee chairmen over the past week, but that debate was shelved, at least for now, after outspoken opposition from the CBC and other veteran lawmakers during a caucus meeting Tuesday.

Some of those senior lawmakers worry that term limits for Democratic leadership will eventually lead to limits on committee leaders. But the caucus is about to welcome a huge class of freshmen, many of whom campaigned on the promise of new leadership.

“I think there’s a strong desire for that among freshmen,” Rep.-elect Katie Hill of California said in an interview when asked about term limits. Hill was one of two freshmen elected by the incoming members to represent them in Democratic leadership.

“I just think that would help a lot in terms of some of the concerns that have been voiced even before we got elected,” she said.