BLATHER REVIEW: More Trouble In Paradise?

January 13, 2007

More Trouble In Paradise?

Looks like Queen Nancy is ruffling some of her fellow Democrats' feathers again. In her misguided rush to push a truckload of legislation through in the arbitrary deadline of the "First 100 Hours", she's alienating the mebers of commitees that would like to, oh, you know, maybe discuss the legislation first. Story here.

January 12, 2007 -- WASHINGTON - Powerhouse New York Rep. Charles Rangel is butting heads with fellow Democrat Nancy Pelosi just a week into the new Congress controlled by their party, The Post has learned.
Rangel yesterday swatted down a tax hike that Pelosi has floated, and he made an end run around her decision to bypass House committees in a rush to bring bills to a vote.

"There's a lot of tension there," one Democratic lawmaker said of the relationship between Rangel and Pelosi.

Peolosi says, "We're gonna repeal the tax cuts" and Rengel says, "Says who?".

Rangel, who took over the powerful Ways and Means Committee after 36 years in Congress, smacked down the idea Pelosi raised on Sunday of repealing tax cuts for those earning more than $500,000 per year.
"We haven't gotten that far to be talking about tax increases," Rangel told The Post. "She hasn't discussed it with me . . . We haven't gotten into tax policy."

Ever the demogogue, her Highness... well, you could see THIS coming:

Pelosi had said nixing tax cuts for half-million-dollar earners "might be more important to the American people than ignoring the educational and health needs of America's children."
But Rangel, whose committee handles tax policy, dismissed Pelosi's idea as unlikely to happen, since the speaker didn't bother to vet it with him in advance.

"Saying it to me in private is far more important than whatever she says nationally," he huffed, referring to her weekend TV appearance.

I get the feeling that Rengel doesn't like getting his new chairmanship just in time to be frozen out of the process:

In another swat at Pelosi, Rangel sided with Republican lawmakers by opposing his leadership's high-profile push to jam through legislation in the first 100 hours of Democratic rule.
Pelosi decreed that none of the early legislation would go through the normal committee process, hoping to keep her party in lockstep to enact key agenda items and boost her own and the party's national image.

"I don't think the chairman [Rangel] likes the idea that there were no hearings on a lot of the bills that were coming up in the 100 hours," said the Democratic lawmaker.

Sources say Rangel went to Pelosi urging that his committee be allowed to review legislation allowing the feds to negotiate with drug companies over prices and taking away tax breaks for big oil companies - but she refused.

Rangel got around her by setting up closed-door committee forums that were essentially hearings anyway.

Well, it's time to refresh the Speaker's memory that committees are a part of **...drumroll...** How a Bill Becomes a Law:

Posted by Tuning Spork at January 13, 2007 10:13 PM | TrackBack

Comments

It's all about egos, and both Pelosi and Rangel have huge ones. She's finding that this whole speaker gig is not as easier as she thought. She may have been able to make her kids toe the line with her "mother-of-five" voice, but she'll find Rangel and his ilk a different story!

Posted by: Pam at January 15, 2007 10:11 AM

Pelosi is never going to get control of her side of the aisle. They'll be divided for her entire tenure.

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