ED MORRISSEY: Even House Dems Wonder: What Was The Point Of The Pelosi Filibuster?
Nancy Pelosi spoke for eight hours yesterday — and even some of her own colleagues don’t quite know why. She took advantage of a rarely used privilege which allows House caucus leaders to hold the floor indefinitely. Pelosi insisted that she would keep talking until Paul Ryan agreed to schedule a vote on a DACA compromise and would block any attempt to pass a budget until he did.
That sounded great … right up until her negotiating partner Chuck Schumer announced a budget deal without linkage to the “dreamers” issue in the middle of her filibuster. Now Pelosi’s colleagues wonder whether she intended to move the issue at all, or whether she was covering her behind after selling them out.
It’s difficult to imagine that Pelosi and Schumer weren’t keeping each other informed on exactly what they were doing.