The U.S. Congress resumed work yesterday under new Democratic Party management, setting the stage for a possible showdown over Iraq as President George W. Bush prepares to unveil a policy shift that may include a temporary surge in U.S. troop levels.
Nancy Pelosi, who became the first woman elected as Speaker of the House of Representatives, used her opening speech to remind Mr. Bush that the Democrats won control of Congress in the Nov. 7 midterm election largely because of public rejection of his position on Iraq.
“The American people rejected an open-ended obligation to a war without end,” Ms. Pelosi said, adding that it is “the responsibility of the President to articulate a new plan for Iraq that makes it clear to the Iraqis that they must defend their own streets and their own security, a plan that promotes stability in the region that allows us to responsibly redeploy our troops.”
Ms. Pelosi, a 66-year-old Democrat from San Francisco, was deliberately vague about her party's view on what should be done in Iraq, particularly when it comes to troop levels.
Although most Democrats campaigned in the fall election on reducing the U.S. presence in Iraq, there is no unanimity on the issue.
Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, who is to become chairman of the foreign-relations committee, called the plan to increase troop strength the “absolute wrong strategy.”
But his colleague Senator Carl Levin of Michigan has said that he would not prejudge Mr. Bush's plan and that a boost in troop levels “would be worth considering” if it were conditional on Iraqis meeting specific milestones and followed by troop reductions in four to six months.
Mr. Levin, who is taking over as chairman of the Senate armed-services committee, is planning a series of hearings on Iraq beginning next week. Other hearings will look into the awarding of lucrative contracts for Iraq reconstruction, the handling of intelligence before the invasion and overall handling of the war on terrorism.
Speculation is that Mr. Bush is considering an increase of 20,000 to 40,000 troops, concentrated in Baghdad. There are currently an estimated 140,000 U.S. troops deployed in Iraq.
Mr. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki held a video conversation lasting almost two hours yesterday, during which both leaders agreed there was a need to stabilize the situation in Baghdad, including possibly adding more U.S. soldiers.
“They were talking about the importance of having sufficient force within Baghdad to create a stable situation within the city,” said White House spokesman Tony Snow, who refused to provide details on Mr. Bush's plans for troop levels.
Apparently linked to the Iraq policy pronouncement is the anticipated appointment of John Negroponte, the current National Intelligence Director, as deputy secretary of state to Condoleezza Rice.
Mr. Negroponte, the first person to hold the intelligence post, is a former career diplomat who is seen as taking a major role in the implementation of the Iraq plan. His successor is expected to be Mike McConnell, a retired admiral in the U.S. Navy who is currently an executive at Booz Allen Hamilton, a large consulting firm.
Mr. Bush will also reportedly nominate Zalmay Khalilzad, the current U.S. ambassador to Iraq, as the new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, replacing the controversial John Bolton, who failed to get Senate approval for his appointment.
In another White House shuffle, Harriet Miers resigned as White House counsel after almost six years in the job. Ms. Miers, 61, was Mr. Bush's choice for a vacancy in the Supreme Court in 2005, but she dropped out of the running after her nomination was attacked by conservatives.
The first day of the new congressional session was really Ms. Pelosi's day as she was feted as the first woman to hold such a high position in the U.S. political firmament. As Speaker, she comes third in the constitutional hierarchy, just after Vice-President Dick Cheney.
“It's an historic moment for the Congress,” she told a packed House of Representatives.
“It's an historic moment for the women of America. ... For our daughters and our granddaughters, today we have broken the marble ceiling. For our daughters and granddaughters, now the sky is the limit.”
The Democrats, who control both the House and the Senate for the first time in 12 years, have laid out an ambitious plan to get a half dozen of their pet bills through the House over the next two weeks.
They include legislation to implement recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission, raise the minimum wage, expand funding for stem-cell research, lower drug prices, cut interest rates on student loans and repeal tax breaks for oil companies.
Even if the Democrats manage to push the measures through the House, some are likely to run into trouble in the Senate and if they pass, could be vetoed by Mr. Bush.
