Updated 6:28 p.m. | Democrats have indicated numerous times that they support — perhaps a bit reluctantly — the continuing resolution. But Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi seems to be having second thoughts about giving in so easily.  

Asked Tuesday afternoon why Democrats wouldn’t withhold their support on the continuing resolution to get a better deal on reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank, Pelosi responded that she was “all for that.”  

“I would like to see us use our leverage,” Pelosi said.  

Republicans are relying on Democrats to help them pass the continuing resolution. But if Democrats voted no and made Republicans pass the spending bill on their own, GOP leaders would almost certainly be short on the votes needed.  

Pelosi said she thought Republicans “probably” had the votes. Pressed on whether Republicans had the votes without Democrats, Pelosi said she didn’t know. But she did seem supportive of using Democratic leverage, though she did say running up against a government shutdown “weakens our leverage.”  

Just minutes before Pelosi entered the Democratic briefing, Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., seemed resigned to accept the current bill Republicans had put forth, and earlier in the day, during his weekly pen-and-pad briefing, Hoyer said Democrats wouldn’t withhold their support on the CR for a better deal on the Ex-Im Bank. “You don’t get perfect,” Hoyer said.  

Democrats uniting behind a strategy that sinks the CR still seems unlikely, but it seems to still be an option Democratic leaders are mulling over.  

Michael Steel, spokesman for Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, shared his reaction to the Pelosi comments with CQ Roll Call via email:  

“Did Rep. Pelosi tell President Obama she is threatening to shut down the government over an unrelated issue after he said he needs the authority to train properly-vetted Syrian rebels in the CR as soon as humanly possible?” he asked.  

A spokesman for Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., had a similar question.  

“Has the Minority Leader spoken to the President today?” asked Mike Long.  

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