<http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/its-tough-to-get-218-votes-so- 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 — 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 … 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. … 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.