(nyt) Speaker Nancy Pelosi normally enjoys warm relations with members of the House’s black and Hispanic caucuses, but a large number of them revolted Monday against legislation, which she supported, to rescue the financial industry. Class differences were laid bare by the vote. Several members of the two all-Democratic caucuses, who are now working among themselves and with the House leadership to put forward a compromise, characterized the defeated bill as one that would have provided assistance to the rich at the expense of middle- and lower-income voters. And it is to those voters that the lawmakers must answer. Representative Xavier Becerra, whose district includes some of Los Angeles’s poorer precincts, said, “The last thing I need to do is go back home and tell people I voted for 0 billion, some of which will touch the same people that caused the problem, and I can’t guarantee taxpayers will recoup those costs.” The Congressional Hispanic Caucus, 40 percent of whose members are fellow Californians of Ms. Pelosi, voted 12 to 8 against the bailout, while the Congressional Black Caucus rejected it by 21 to 18. The overall vote was 228 to 205, meaning that a shift of 12 votes from nay to aye would have brought passage.

Join BBN for free to post a comment. If you already have an account, please login here to post a comment. You will be returned to this page after logging in.