Eric Ginnard – eginnard@shawmedia.com

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Rep. Dan Lipinski, D-Western Springs, is one of a number of Democrats in the House of Representatives who is speaking out against Nancy Pelosi possibly becoming speaker — unless there are some changes.

Lipinski, who won his eighth term in Congress earlier this month and is considered one of the most conservative Democrats in the House, is part of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus. Members of the caucus try to look for moderate solutions to policy problems like health care, immigration, infrastructure and now, changing procedural rules in the House.

“I signed a statement today with eight other Democratic members of the #ProblemSolversCaucus about how we won’t be supporting Nancy Pelosi for speaker until we get a commitment to change some House rules and #BreakTheGridlock in DC,” Lipinski wrote in a Facebook post. “All we’re asking for is commitment to common sense government.”

In an opinion piece, Lipinski argued the rules of the House of Representatives, in which the Speaker of the House can decide what legislation gets a vote, is creating political gridlock. He called for the changing of those rules to allow individual members who authored legislation to be able to get a vote on his or her bill.

House Democrats will hold a vote by secret ballot Wednesday. Pelosi only needs a majority of the 232 House Democrats in that contest, but when the full House elects its new leaders on Jan. 3, the speaker will need a majority 218 votes, assuming no one votes “present” or misses the vote and Republicans oppose Pelosi completely.