House Democratic leaders maneuvered Saturday to lock down a lineup that would look exactly the same in the minority as it did in the majority, even as junior and disaffected rank-and-file lawmakers clamor for change at the top.
Outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi averted a Wednesday showdown between her top two lieutenants by announcing that she will create a new post for Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), who was expected to lose a race for minority whip to Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). Clyburn would become "assistant leader" and would remain the third-ranking person in the Democratic leadership, Pelosi said in a letter to caucus members.
That may help Pelosi avoid a revolt from black lawmakers anxious to make sure that Clyburn, the highest-ranking African American in Congress, isn't booted from the leadership or demoted in rank. Moreover, the deal does little to alleviate the frustrations of a scattered but sizable set of junior Democrats who believe Pelosi and her senior allies exercise too much control over caucus structures, including campaign, policy and committee-assignment apparatuses. Those lawmakers are working to rewrite internal rules to take power away from the septuagenarians who run the party.
"You have a bunch of senior citizens at the buffet at closing time, fighting over the last piece of meat," said one veteran Democrat who talked about the "frustration of the younger generation" of talent that's upset at the prospect of keeping "the status quo."
Both Hoyer and Clyburn endorsed the deal, but one member of the younger generation, Heath Shuler of North Carolina, told a local newspaper in his district, the Clay County Progress, this week that he would challenge Pelosi for the leadership. He had previously said he would challege her if no one else did.
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