The Lobbyists Blocking Nancy Pelosi and Her New Majority

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the idealistic class of 64 Democratic House freshmen are armed with a reform agenda. This includes H.R. 1, a 571-page bill that addresses voting rights, corruption, gerrymandering and campaign finance reform as well as the creation of a Select Committee on the Climate Crisis — a first step toward a “Green New Deal.”

Proponents of this ambitious project face a determined adversary, however — the top ranks of the interest group establishment, skilled in co-opting liberal members of Congress and converting initiatives to square with the interests of corporate America. CONT.

Thomas B. Edsall, New York Times