Rashida Tlaib Hits Back At Nancy Pelosi, Says Speaker Is ‘Diminishing’ Voices Of Women Of Color
In an interview with ABC broadcast on Sunday, Michigan Representative Rashida Tlaib defended herself and other House progressives against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s attacks, Mediaite reports.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Pelosi stirred up controversy on Saturday by belittling progressive Democrats in the House.
“All these people have their public whatever and their Twitter world. But they didn’t have any following. They’re four people and that’s how many votes they got,” the top Democrat said of her colleagues, pushing back against their opposition to a Senate bill expanding funding for President Donald Trump’s immigration authorities.
Unlike progressives — and 95 other Democrats — Pelosi backed the bill, letting it pass with no strings attached and without attempting to negotiate better conditions for migrant children detained at the border. The maneuver not only angered left-leaning Democrats, but it also appears to be setting the stage for yet another showdown between Pelosi and members of her caucus.
The House speaker’s dismissive and mocking remarks provoked a response from New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who responded by suggesting that Democrats need to actually wield power in order to achieve their goals.
Now, Tlaib, another progressive Democrat, is defending her colleagues and attacking Pelosi for “diminishing” the voices of women of color within her caucus.
“It is very disappointing that the Speaker would ever try to diminish our voices in so many ways,” she said of Pelosi’s remarks.
“Uplift the women, especially the women of color, within your caucus that are out there because I’ll tell you more people like us, more people like me that come out to vote, we win, all of us win.”
As Mediaite notes, Tlaib also appeared to suggest that Pelosi does not care about detained migrant children due to the color of their skin.
The representative explained to ABC that she believes Pelosi and other Democrats need to “honor” her and other women’s backgrounds, and work together on finding a solution for the situation at the southern border.
The tensions between the establishment wing of the Democratic Party lead by Nancy Pelosi and more progressive Democrats have been growing for quite some time.
“It is time for liberals and leftists who lambast Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to admit to themselves that the hippie-punching Pelosi has become a Trump enabler too.”
My latest for ??@theintercept?: https://t.co/2BHYHm32WJ
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) July 7, 2019
It is not only other lawmakers that are pressuring Pelosi, organizers and activist groups are doing the same.
As The Hill reported, progressive groups have long been urging Pelosi to begin impeachment proceedings against President Trump. The top Democrat has managed to withstand the pressure, however, consistently and publicly arguing against impeachment.
Even some conservatives are criticizing Pelosi’s refusal to take action against Trump. In an interview with CNN broadcast on Sunday, now-former Republican Justin Amash said that Pelosi is “making a mistake” by not initiating impeachment proceedings.
