Last September, Rangel was optimistic that the war would end in a Democratic-led Congress. Asked at the time how Democrats could force the president’s hand, Rangel said, “You’ve got to be able to pay for the war, don’t you?” Rangel reserves special blame for what he views as the disastrous decision invade Iraq on Vice President Cheney, with whom he has a record of sparring verbally. History will judge him “as one of the most powerful vice presidents in the history of the United States for policies that I really believe have cost our credibility international[ly] like nothing other than the fact that we legalized slavery,” Rangel said. Lea Anne McBride, a spokeswoman for Cheney, said, “Such an offensive statement doesn’t warrant a response.” Since the Democrats regained control of Congress, Rangel has anguished over the party’s failure to halt the war and to push more pieces of its domestic agenda through the Senate. He was stung by Senate Democrats’ refusal to embrace the House’s more sweeping reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, the federal program providing health insurance to poor children.