fighting Nancy Pelosi threatens antiwar legislators…
…who won’t vote for her Iraq appropriations bill!
speaker-gets-tough-too-2007-03-20.html> It’s tough to get 218 votes, so Speaker gets tough, too
By Jonathan E. Kaplan
March 21, 2007 Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is holding the implied threat of lost = committee seats over the heads of Democratic Caucus members who may = vote against her $124 billion Iraq war supplemental bill. Faced with the possibility of losing the first really big vote since = taking majority control in the November elections, Pelosi is talking = tough to wavering lawmakers and isolating those opposed to the bill. Democrats picked up some undecided lawmakers yesterday as they edged = closer to the 218 votes they need to pass the bill when it reaches = the House floor tomorrow or Friday. Pelosi is spending 90 percent of = her time trying to sway the 10 percent of the caucus that is either = undecided or opposed to the bill, according to a senior lawmaker and = a leadership aide. She has been hardest on members of the Appropriations Committee and = her fellow Californians who oppose the measure. The Speaker pointedly = reminded Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), a leading opponent of the bill, = that she had appointed her to the Appropriations Committee, three = Democratic lawmakers said. The message was simple, the lawmakers said: Pelosi could also remove = Lee from the panel. During a meeting last week with appropriators, Pelosi reminded them = that serving on the panel was a privilege, admonishing lawmakers from = safe districts who feel they have the luxury to vote how they want = without consequences =97 as opposed to Democrats elected in swing = districts who do not, a Democratic appropriator said. “The meeting with appropriators was a frank and open discussion where = the Speaker addressed the magnitude of the vote in committee and the = need to hold the Bush administration and Iraqis accountable and bring = our troops home,” Pelosi’s spokesman, Nadeam Elshami, said. “It = shouldn’t be interpreted in any other manner.” Lee was the only Democratic appropriator to oppose the bill last week = when it passed on a largely party-line vote, the only lawmaker to = oppose going to war in Afghanistan in 2001, and was appointed to the = Appropriations Committee this year. Lee declined to comment for this story. Pelosi also has met with members of the Progressive Caucus several = times in the past two weeks. A lawmaker said the tension between = Pelosi and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), a chief deputy whip and a = founder of the Out of Iraq Caucus, was noticeable. The two = Californians sat at opposite ends of a long table in Pelosi’s office = as Waters, her arms crossed, listened to Pelosi make her case for the = bill. Liberal Democrats also feel that House leaders have tried to isolate = them as a power in the caucus. Some have complained that Democratic = leaders accommodated the wishes of conservative Democrats in the = legislation, but neglected liberals. In particular, House leaders removed a provision requiring President = Bush to seek congressional approval if he attacked Iran. Blue Dog = Democrats wanted the provision stripped from the bill. When the Appropriations Committee considered the spending bill, Lee = was the only anti-war speaker and she spoke last before the House = called a vote. “They took up spinach before they took up her. If it is a subtle = effort to intimidate it is not working =85 I did not like the way that = looked,” Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) said. Meanwhile, House Democratic leaders predicted they would have the 218 = votes needed to pass the bill. “Do I have 218 people that I know are definite ‘yeses’ right this = minute? The answer to that is no. =85 Do I think we will have 218 votes = on this bill when we call it up for a vote? The answer to that is = yes,” Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters yesterday. = “[Do] I think we will need to delay it? I hope the answer to that is = no and believe it is no.” Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) faced dissent within the = Democratic whip organization. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a chief deputy = whip, said he would vote against the bill. Clyburn also told reporters that Waters was not whipping against the = measures. But minutes before that press conference, Waters told = reporters she was soliciting support for her side. “I changed my mind after leadership changed their mind,” she said, = adding that she is willing to be stripped of her whip’s post for = bucking leadership. “That’s fair, to take responsibility to your actions,” she said. Whether that would happen is unclear. A leadership aide noted that = Democratic leaders have “long memories.” Democrats received good news from Reps. John Tanner (D-Tenn.) and Jan = Schakowsky (D-Ill.), both chief deputy whips, who announced that they = would back the bill. “We’re getting the job done and it’s a strength that we include = members from the entire spectrum of our caucus in the whip = organization,” said Kristie Greco, Clyburn’s spokeswoman. Schakowsky, a founder of the Out of Iraq Caucus, announced yesterday = that she would support the spending measure and lobby fellow = Democrats to vote for it. “I would have written a different bill and not spent money, but this = is a step on the path to bringing our troops home,” Schakowsky told = reporters. “It’s my desire to view this as a partial victory … this = vote is the beginning of the end of the war in Iraq.” Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) told his fellow Democrats at their = weekly caucus meeting that he would support the bill, too.