Pelosi: Up to Obama to Win Funds for Afghan Escalation

House Speaker Reluctant to Push Congress to Back Proposal

by Jason Ditz, December 16, 2009

In May, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was instrumental in winning support for the Obama Administration’s “emergency” war funding bill, convincing Congress that this was absolutely the last time any such bill would be put forward.

But with the troops for President Barack Obama’s latest escalation starting to arrive in Afghanistan, and the 2010 defense bill not providing funding to pay for them, another “emergency” bill is on the horizon.

And while Congresswoman Pelosi wouldn’t commit to how she intends to vote on that next bill, her message to the administration is that it is up to the president to win the funding, because she has no intention of going out on another limb.

Polls show public doubt growing about the Afghan War, and with the mid-term elections coming up next year House Democrats will have to answer to their constituencies if and when they approve the next emergency bill.

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