The California Democrat was referring to a strategy floated by leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus — Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) — who she is working with to resolve a monthslong policy dispute that has flared up again as the bill speeds toward the floor.

The House is expected to vote this week on Pelosi's bill, an ambitious plan to lower the cost of prescription drugs by authorizing Medicare to negotiate drug prices. But the two progressive leaders have privately said they have enough support to tank a procedural vote on the bill, which does not go as far as some on the left have wanted.

Those tactics have irritated some others in the caucus, however, with Democrats eager for a legislative win on health care.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, a senior Democrat and Pelosi ally, spoke up in the same closed-door meeting on Monday night to criticize the progressive leaders' threats to derail the bill using procedural tactics, comparing it to “shooting ourselves in the foot,” according to one person in the room.

Several progressives, fed up with what they saw as a top-down process from the start, say they are willing to block the bill from advancing on the floor, which would be a huge embarrassment to Pelosi and her leadership team.

But Jayapal was less definitive when asked on Monday night.

“We are still working to get some of our amendments in. And that’s pretty much all I want to say on H.R. 3,” Jayapal told reporters, declining to say whether progressives would be willing to bring down the bill on a procedural vote.

“We are waiting to see what we’ve got,” Jayapal said.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal. | Cengiz Yar/Getty Images)

Pelosi and her allies, meanwhile, are projecting confidence, moving ahead with plans for a markup in the House Rules Committee on Tuesday and a floor vote soon after.

Some in leadership have questioned whether progressives are willing to risk one of Democrats' most high-profile bills of the year, especially at such a volatile time for the caucus, as the House barrels toward an impeachment vote next week.

Asked if he had concerns about whether progressives might block the bill on the floor, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said, "Certainly."

"We want to see this on the floor," the Maryland Democrat said Monday evening.

For Democrats, the drug pricing bill is critical after many in the caucus ran on health care in the 2018 midterms that delivered them the House.

But Jayapal and Pocan represent a group of restive progressives itching to go further. Several members believe that threatening to vote against the rule may be the only way their complaints can be taken seriously, even as the tactic irks some others in the caucus.

The left flank of the caucus has made clear to Pelosi and her team for months that they want to see a more aggressive proposal; these lawmakers have complained that the bill waters down key provisions, specifically, the number of drugs that Medicare is allowed to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies.

Some centrists Democrats, meanwhile, have warned Pelosi and her leadership team that if the bill is yanked to the left, some of their moderate members will bolt.

Jayapal has personally fought for an amendment that would require new government regulations cracking down on pharmaceutical companies that raise drug prices above the cost of inflation. Those rules already exist for Medicare, and Jayapal's language would expand them to private insurance as well. That language was initially adopted in a markup of the Education and Labor committee, though the final version of the bill stripped it out and included only a requirement to study the issue.

Coming into the new Congress, there were open questions about how the CPC — with a cast of influential new members like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) — would try to wield its influence in the majority.

Moderates privately worried they would be forced into taking uncomfortable votes on progressive planks that did little to appeal to voters in their GOP-leaning districts.

Leaders of the progressive caucus rebelled in April over a budget dispute, forcing Democratic leaders to yank the bill after the CPC threatened to join with moderates and tank the legislation on the floor.

The defeat was an embarrassing setback for Democratic leaders on the eve of their 100th day in the House majority.

Progressives also revolted over an emergency immigration bill over the summer, with moderates and liberals verbally sparring on the House floor.

But overall, progressives have largely avoided public fights with leadership, instead mostly working behind the scenes to influence Democrats’ major messaging bills including the $15 minimum wage bill, legislation to protect young immigrants known as Dreamers and a sweeping election and lobbying reform bill

Sarah Karlin-Smith and Sarah Owermohle contributed to this report.