Rep. Kathleen Rice snubbed of House Judiciary Committee seat by Speaker Pelosi

Jed Hendrixson
Rep. Kathleen Rice pictured in a sit down interview with Blank Slate Media. (Photo by Janelle Clausen)

Rep. Kathleen Rice will apparently pay a price for her opposition to House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)

Pelosi denied a seat on the House Judiciary Committee to the Garden City Democrat despite efforts by New York Democrats to have Rice, a former Nassau County District Attorney, appointed to the prestigious panel.

Pelosi left Rice off of her recommendations list Tuesday, according to reporting by Politico.

Pelosi’s slate of representatives won by a steering committee vote of 27-21, according to Politico.

Pelosi apparently argued that New York was represented prominently on the committee by its chairman, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), according to Politico.

Rice did not vote for Pelosi to be elected speaker on Jan. 3, instead casting her vote for Georgia gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams.

In a sit-down interview with Blank Slate Media prior to her re-election representing New York’s 4th Congressional District for a third term, Rice called for new leadership and an agenda to help the American people in the democratic party. Rice also wrote an opinion article, published by The Washington Post, expressing the same sentiment.

“We now have the opportunity to show voters that we will deliver on the promise of change on which we campaigned,” Rice wrote. “For many House Democrats, that means supporting new leadership for speaker of the House.”

Rice blamed Pelosi and other Democratic leaders for losses suffered by the party from 2010 through 2016. Pelosi previously served as speaker from 2007 to 2011.

“In any other walk of life, if you presided over a losing season or losing quarter, you’re gone,” Rice previously said. “Heavy is the head that wears the crown and we should have made a leadership change back in 2010.”

Efforts to reach Rice for comment were unavailing.

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