Capitol Hill Dems Feel Leaderless

As Democrats prepare for important budget negotiations with Republicans, they aren’t getting a sense of leadership either from their top officials in Congress or the White House, Politico reports.

Nancy Pelosi

In the House, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer have disagreed twice over whether to approve stop-gap budget bills that trim billions of dollars in government spending. The last Democratic budget proposal in the Senate received less support than the Republican alternative. And the White House has been missing in action, Democrats complain.

So they are feeling rudderless.

“The sum and substance of our strategy can’t be waiting for the other side to [mess] up,” Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., told bloggers Wednesday.

If there really is a Democratic plan, “it’s such a Jedi mind-meld going on that it hasn’t filtered down to my level,” he told Politico.