Two House Democrats defect again on key vote for Trump agenda
By Sarah Ferris, CNN
(CNN) — House Democrats are fuming after a pair of centrist members once again defied their party leaders by voting to help advance a key White House priority — the second time in recent weeks.
The frustrations at those two Democrats — in particular, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, who is seeking reelection in a battleground seat — are so high that they led to a confrontation on the House floor Tuesday evening between the Washington congresswoman and a top party leader, according to a person familiar with the exchange.
Rep. Katherine Clark, the No. 2 House Democrat and party whip, appeared to raise her voice in an intense conversation on the floor with Gluesenkamp Perez shortly after the vote, that person said. (The other Democratic defector, Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, is retiring after his term and has faced less party blowback.)
The vote the two Democrats defected on is known as a rule vote. Typically, members of the minority party stick together to oppose these kind of procedural votes, which the majority party needs to bring bills to the floor.
Democrats are particularly irate given that one of the bills that can now be brought to the floor is a Russian sanctions bill that President Donald Trump himself has championed. The White House has made it such a high priority that some in the administration privately reached out to at least one House Democratic centrist, attempting to convince that member to support the GOP procedural vote in exchange for a community project back home, that member told CNN. That member ultimately opposed the GOP procedural vote.
While some Democrats support the Russia sanctions bill, they said they were not willing to back a GOP rule — and cross party leadership — to get that result.
“I’m proud to represent one of the largest Ukrainian communities in America — people who have lost fathers, mothers, sons and daughters in the fight to defeat fascism,” Gluesenkamp Perez said on X, adding, “My vote today gets us one step closer to enacting these sanctions into law and I look forward to voting tomorrow to cut off the flow of Russian oil money fueling this war.”
The decision by the two Democrats to once again flout their leadership has quickly resurfaced a complicated debate about party discipline within the caucus. Democrats had already been discussing ways to punish members who oppose the party on key procedural votes after the last episode. Now, in the final week of session before the midterms, those conversations are quickly heating up.
Another top Democrat, Rep. Pete Aguilar, later called out the two defectors and said their caucus would discuss potential punishments for the members.
Asked about enforcing party discipline, he said, “We’ll have some conversations as a family, and we’ll go from there.”
And he issued a terse warning to fellow Democrats about the behavior: “That’s not what we should be doing.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
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