House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has survived a string of major challenges over the past six months, including some historic victories, but all are dwarfed by the task she faces today — rounding up enough votes among anti-war Democrats to continue payments for the war in Iraq.
This is a defining moment not only for Nancy Pelosi but also for the Democratic caucus,” Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., said this week as Democratic leaders continued their furious effort to collect votes.
Pelosi, who just two months ago was celebrated as the nation’s first female speaker of the House, now finds herself squeezed between Republicans who don’t like the timeline provisions included in the $124 billion war-spending bill and anti-war Democrats who don’t want to spend another dime on the war.
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She receives no help from peace activists such as CodePink, which worked hard to oust Republicans in the last election. The Democratic victory in November — based largely on growing impatience with the war among voters — gave Pelosi the Speaker’s gavel.
Today, those same activists have turned their opposition on Pelosi and her bill to continue funding the war for at least another six months. Twice already this month, they have staged protests outside Pelosi’s San Francisco home.
And Thursday, they planned to storm Pelosi’s Capitol Hill office in the Cannon Building for a “sit-in” to “protest the Democratic Congress’ purchase of Bush’s Iraq War.”
Among the planned events was a game of “Pin-the-war-on-the-donkey to represent the Democratic House leadership on Iraq.” In a press release sent to reporters before the event, CodePink organizers promised: “ARRESTS LIKELY. GREAT PHOTO/VIDEO.”
Already, one Democrat has defied the leadership and voted against the bill. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., cast her nay vote when the legislation was before the Appropriations Committee last week.
“I don’t think the president deserves another chance,” she said, recalling civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr.’s opposition to the war in Vietnam. “The fact is that you cannot win an occupation, just as there is no way for the United States to win an Iraqi civil war.”
Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a loyal Pelosi ally, also invoked King in an impassioned floor speech earlier this week.
“I will not and I cannot in good conscience vote for another dollar or another dime to support this war,” he said.
By most counts, a dozen or more Democrats have either raised doubts about supporting the bill or flatly said they won’t. That’s perilously close to the 15 defections Pelosi can afford to lose and still winthe vote. Originally scheduled for Thursday, House leaders postponed the vote until today to give them more time to firm up Democratic support.
Among the certain defectors is Rep. Maxine Waters of California, who’s a senior member of the Democratic Whip Team, which is responsible for ensuring that the caucus obeys leadership on votes.
On the other side are Republicans, who are in lockstep opposition to the bill because it sets specific timelines for withdrawal from Iraq. Also, they say, they oppose the more than $20 billion in “pork” projects that lawmakers inserted into the emergency war-spending bill.
If the bill fails, Democratic leaders have warned their anti-war members that they will immediately introduce a “clean” war-spending bill without timelines for withdrawal. That would attract Republican support and likely pass overwhelmingly.
Hastings, who said he will vote for the current measure, said he worries that in search of a “perfect” bill, his anti-war colleagues will kill the best bill possible.
“I just don’t understand what part of being in the majority they don’t understand,” he said.
