In closed-door meetings, Speaker Pelosi is preparing the rabid antiwar members of her caucus for a capitulation on the Iraq funding bill, according to Congressional Quarterly:
House Democratic leaders are preparing their rank and file for the likelihood that a final supplemental spending measure will contain the nonbinding Iraq withdrawal language favored by the Senate.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., met with members of her "kitchen cabinet" and of the Out of Iraq Caucus Tuesday, as she put it, to "hear suggestions" on how to proceed with a conference on the spending bill (HR 1591) and congressional action after an anticipated veto from President Bush.
Read the whole report at the above link. We are seeing the fissures in the Democratic Party widen. Too many elected Democrats are simply unwilling to go along with forcing withdrawal from Iraq by cutting off the funding, and the House leadership is therefore unable to call the President's bluff on his demand for a "clean" bill.
Naturally, "nonbinding" language is meaningless fluff which can be completely ignored. The key part of the bill will be the funding, which it now appears the troops will get.
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Tags: congress, Iraq, pelosi
