House Democrats explode in recriminations as liberals lash out at moderates

In the coming months, votes on health care, the environment and spending bills could cause more extreme breaks in the Democratic ranks.While the party’s left wing has gotten outsize attention for its aggressive moves to push Democrats in their direction, the splinter faction is made up of the party’s moderates — many of them freshmen taking their first congressional votes.They insist they are not going to be dissuaded from voting with their districts, and many are warning that majority control is at stake.“It’s this class of members that got elected that are the reason we have the majority,” said Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), a co-chairman of the moderate Blue Dog Coalition. Members typically have only a few minutes’ notice before having to cast votes on motions that, in recent practice, are crafted to be as politically uncomfortable as possible for the majority party.“We hear lots of different things from lots of different members of our leadership about their views on this issue, and they should get together and figure it out,” said Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.).A few Democrats said Thursday that the motion to recommit should be jettisoned entirely.