expand the map into areas they never thought they would be able to get into, and democrats having to defend seats they have no business defending. seats that joe biden won by 19 and 20 points. so i mean it s a pretty grim picture out there. new york alone could give back the house to republicans. new york races alone that are super tight. new york races that are super tight for the house. but jake, going back to spanberger and your reporter max, she was complaining about progressives and said that the progressives were forcing these issues to be better than they were on paper already, that they wanted it to be perfect, instead of good, and that it delayed things even further, and it underscores the democratic party i think has had and ashley could probably speak to this after, with trying to unify a party that has very disparate elements and very disparate ideals. ashley could talk about the
legislation that will have an effect on people s lives, it just might not do so for democrats in time for this election cycle. it is not just an incredibly productive white house in terms of legislation but it s important to remember that they did all of that with a tissue thin majority. good point. i mean a few seats in the house, and the senate, it is 50-50, but i have talked to the white house about this a lot, and their argument, which is not incorrect, is that when you have a fractious caucus, with progressives on the one end and moderates on the other and people like senator manchin and senator sinema, that you do have to work really hard to get them all together. so when you hear the white house tell this tale, they talk about, well, for instance, to pick one example, we had to first get house progressives on board to vote for infrastructure, which wasn t all they had wanted because we cut out some of their progressive priorities but that was step one and a long line of mo
camilla to withdraw a letter from president biden urging him to pursue diplomacy with russia on ukraine. this is quite the reversal. at first there was a clarif clarification, and then a total reversal. that s right. it is, brianna. certainly the congresswoman in the statement saying she accepts responsibility for what has become a messy and embarrassing distraction for house democrats this week. in her official statement withdrawing the letter, the congresswoman acknowledges this has become a distraction, saying, quote, the letter was drafted several months ago but unfortunately was released by staff without vetting. and the issue of the timing here is what has set off many house democrats. many of the signatories of the
letter, house progressives, saying this was written months ago, signed on months ago, a different time of the war. and many saying they wouldn t have signed the letter in this climate. and they felt blind-sided . saying no one checked with them to see if they supported the letter. many house democrats arguing here this is not a good look two weeks to midterm elections. they can t stand to not look united, especially over ukraine policy, two weeks to midterms, one member who signed on saying, quote, the timing here is terrible. a lot of their constituents, these progressives, they ve taken flack from them for the funding for ukraine, they have. but it seems they didn t read the room with this letter. that s right.
rape, favors a national abortion ban and is absolutely presents a clear contrast to my opinion and my position which is as a federally elected official i have no place making decisions for constituents across my district. that s a decision to be left to a woman and her doctor and the contrast on this issue in particular could not be clearer in our race. let s talk about some policy now. you are on the house foreign affairs. the 30 house progressives who sent that letter to the president urging him to in addition to the economic support and the weapons support start a diplomatic effort to bring the war in ukraine to an end. they ve now withdrawn that letter, they say it was composed and signed in the summer, representative jayapal said a staffer sent it out without vetting. you did not sign that letter but what s your view of the sentiment that there needs to be some negotiation to bring this war to an end? well, i m glad that they