Fresh difficulties

Many Democratic freshmen, such as Reps. Hank Johnson (Ga.) and Keith Ellison (Minn.), had a tough time supporting the Iraq supplemental spending bill passed by the House and then vetoed by President Bush.

Iraq had been central to the midterm election, and however they framed it, voting for the bill meant the lawmakers were agreeing to continue financing a war that their voters oppose. Nevertheless, they held their noses and went along with their House leadership.

But the pattern of Democratic freshmen giving reluctant support to legislation they dislike seems unlikely to be repeated when it comes to ethics reform and immigration. Both these issues also loomed large when voters cast their ballots six months ago, and the Democratic swing has produced several new lawmakers in the majority representing conservative-leaning districts.

Rep. Zack Space (D-Ohio), for example, does not want to be seen to shrug and go along with anything less than a rigorous ethics reform bill. He represents the district that used to send Rep. Bob Ney (R) to Congress, and Ney is now serving 30 months in prison for corruption. Cleaning up Washington was the cornerstone of the Space campaign, so the freshman will be put in a tight spot if he is asked to vote on a diluted bill.

Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.), who ousted Rep. Richard Pombo (R) by campaigning on what Democrats dubbed the “culture of corruption,” is similarly unlikely to welcome a bill that smacks of inertia rather than radical change.

Neither lawmaker, nor many others, will find it easy to vote against a measure that imposes tighter ethical standards than the status quo. But it is already clear that ethical reform is a sticking point for freshmen who told voters that a vote for them was a vote for change.

On immigration, Democrats are, if anything, more at odds with each other. Sure, they are happy in the knowledge that Republicans are even more split and are tearing at each other over a bill that some say amounts to amnesty for illegal immigrants. (Comments posted at The Hill’s Congress Blog, for example, talk of “betrayal” by GOP lawmakers supporting the legislation.)

But Democrats do not offer a picture of unity on the bipartisan bill hammered out in the Senate last week. Freshman Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.), for example, ousted an incumbent Republican with a campaign that focused on getting tough on illegal immigration. Shuler is not going to support what his constituents think of as a reward for law-breaking.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) knows that the immigration bill will need heavy bipartisan support if it is to pass — 60-70 Republican votes has been suggested — because some of her freshmen will desert her on this one.

Pelosi has kept her caucus impressively united in power just as she did in opposition. But legislation has risen to the top of the agenda that will test her.