House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., backed away Wednesday from a resolution that would officially declare the mass killing of Armenians nine decades ago as genocide committed by the Turkish government.
After Democrats implored her to hold off, Pelosi said consideration of the resolution “remains to be seen,” putting into serious doubt whether the House would put it up for a vote.
Pelosi’s decision to stop pushing the resolution came moments before a top ally, defense appropriations committee Chairman John Murtha, D-Pa., called her support of the measure a “miscalculation.”
The measure cleared a House committee last week, and on Oct. 12 Pelosi insisted the bill resolution would go to the floor “before the end of this session.”
But critics, including all eight living secretaries of state, said the resolution threatened to harm relations between the U.S. and Turkey, a critical ally bordering Iraq and Iran. The country, which denies the former Ottoman Empire committed genocide, has allowed the U.S. to use its borderlands as a staging area for troops and supplies entering Iraq. The Turkish border will be a crucial crossing point when U.S. forces eventually withdraw from Iraq.
Pelosi’s effort to pass the resolution, some Republican critics said, was a misstep that put Democrats in jeopardy of looking incompetent on foreign policy, a criticism that has long haunted the party. The critics also cited Pelosi’s trip to Syria earlier this year that was heavily criticized by conservatives who believed it weakened America’s stance against countries that sponsor terrorism.
“I think it’s another instance in a pattern of irresponsibility on foreign policy issues,” said Rep. Adam H. Putnam, R-Fla., a member of the House GOP leadership team. “You would think at some point members would revolt at being led down the wrong path.”
One Democrat acknowledged, “This is not ideal timing, but the principal of the resolution is correct.”
Murtha defended Pelosi, despite his criticism of the resolution. “She maybe misjudged because she didn’t realize the firestorm it would cause. She makes practical judgments with the best information she has at the time. She’ll change her mind along the way.”
Political analysts said Pelosi must reconcile her ambitious agenda with the realities of the job of House speaker.
“She’s still feeling her way,” said Norman J. Ornstein, political scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a right-leaning think tank. “Let’s face it, in some of these areas, she’s going to get tremendous pushback.”
