House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned Sunday that newly empowered Democrats might oppose funding for a “surge” of troops into Iraq, which President Bush is expected to propose this week.
“We will always support the troops who are there,” the California Democrat told ABC’s “Face the Nation.” “But if the president wants to add to this mission, he is going to have to justify it.
“And this is new for him because up until now the Republican Congress has given him a blank check with no oversight, no standards, no conditions,” she added.
Pelosi demanded that Bush draw a distinction between funding for the 140,000 U.S. troops already in Iraq and any future surge, which could amount to 20,000 additional troops.
“When the bill comes,” she warned, “it will receive the harshest scrutiny.”
Democrats also will question an expected request by Bush for up to $1 billion to fund a jobs program in Iraq. The program would try to create economic opportunities for Iraqis who might otherwise be tempted to join the insurgency.
“There are certainly going to be no blank checks; I think we’re going to scrub his request,” said Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. “It’s ironic that we can’t get this administration to support the needed fundingfor jobs, the needed funding for health care, the needed funding for education here at home.”
Sen. Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said a troop surge would be “a prescription for another tragedy.” He has drafted a “resolution of disapproval” for consideration by the Senate.
“It’s a sense of the Senate to try to convince the president that there are significant numbers in the United States Senate who think this proposal is a mistake and hopefully force him to reconsider,” Biden said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Bush, meanwhile, is reshuffling his national security and legal teams. The president is expected to give a speech to the nation, perhaps on Wednesday, laying out his vision for success in Iraq. But some Democrats suggested the prospects for success are remote.
“The administration’s policy in Iraq has failed,” Pelosi said. “There’s a question of how much longer we sustain this failure.”
