Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY) is breaking an 18-year precedent by promising to cross the aisle and vote for the Democratic House rule changes despite threatened “consequences” from his own party’s leadership, according to a Wednesday Washington Post report.
Reed told the Post he was voting with the Democrats because of Pelosi’s follow-through on some process changes that he has pushed to ease the way for bipartisan cooperation and lessen the power of both parties’ most ideologically extreme wings.
He said that he is “glad to support” the Democrats on this measure and will cast his vote as “a sign of good faith to appreciate the work that was done by the Democratic members of the Problem Solvers Caucus and Nancy Pelosi.”
He did not specify which member of Republican House leadership threatened him for the bipartisan gesture, but said that “hopefully there is reconsideration” and emphasized that he came to Washington to try to end “us-versus-them” style politics.
