'The extremists are running it,' Rep. Katherine Clark predicts gridlock in the House
BOSTON - During a joint appearance at a St. Patrick's Day event with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last week, President Joe Biden said, "There's no reason why we can't find common ground."
But in an exclusive WBZ-TV interview, Revere Congresswoman Katherine Clark, the powerful House Minority Whip, painted a much gloomier picture of the prospects for bipartisan action over the next two years.
"The extremists are running it," she said of the House GOP majority. "People are in a race to take the most extreme position that they can. It's a race to the bottom in which the American people and their needs and their voices are being kept out."
So, we wondered - are we looking at two years of gridlock? "That seems to be what we've seen from them so far," said Clark.
House Republicans have passed a few minor bills revoking pandemic-era actions, but measures on high-profile issues like border security have stalled in the face of GOP division. Meanwhile, Clark insists her party is united to the point where just a handful of GOP defections could flip a key vote here and there to the Democrats.
"There are many Republicans that I feel I can work with. The question is, are they going to stand up? There's tremendous pressure on them not to step out of line with the Republicans with this extreme agenda they've put together. They fear they'll have a primary," she said.
What would a period of gridlock mean to us here at home?
It could complicate funding for major federal spending programs like student loans, flood insurance and Medicaid. Congresswoman Clark is pushing for more funding for childcare programs, but she told us the Republicans are not on board with that.
So, if you like the way things are then maybe gridlock isn't such a bad thing. But if you were hoping for bipartisan action, better brace yourself for disappointment.