Arkansas Rep. Mike Ross, who has been negotiating the legislation on behalf of the conservative Blue Dog Coalition, went a step further, telling reporters Wednesday that he has enough votes at this point to defeat the bill when it comes up for a vote in the Energy and Commerce Committee unless drastic changes are made.
Let's do the math.
10 votes in the Committee vs. (supposedly) almost the entire Democratic Congress.
Query: how do those 10 members get a single dime to patch a single pothole in their districts going forward?
They think they can frustrate the entire Democratic caucus without consequence? Can that possibly be true?
The Progressive Caucus is about 150% the size of the Blue Dogs. Add the Black caucus, Asian American and Latinos, and... well... the Blue Dogs are clearly a marginal minority.
So what will it take for the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party to assert itself?