Posted on 02/11/2009 4:27:35 PM PST by Sub-Driver
Did Reid roll Pelosi?
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid played a little high-stakes chicken with each other at the tail end of Wednesday’s shotgun stimulus talks.
It’s not clear who won – or who blinked.
According to a half dozen Congressional aides and members, Reid went before the cameras Wednesday to announce a stimulus deal before Pelosi had agreed on all the details of school construction financing.
“It’s ruffled feathers, big time,” said a House Democrat speaking on condition of anonymity. “The speaker went through the roof.”
Added one House Democratic aide: “He tried to roll her and she knew it.”
A few minutes after Reid announced the deal, Senate Appropriations Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) convened a public meeting of the House-Senate conference committee.
It was supposed to be a glorified photo op. But there were no House Democrats in the room – and Inouye hastily announced the meeting would be scrapped pending a Pelosi “briefing” of members on the details.
The problem, according to people familiar with the situation, was that Pelosi hadn’t completely signed off on the Senate’s approach to restoring some of the $21 billion in school construction funding. House Democrats are pushing to have school-repair funding listed as a recurring expense; Senate Republicans want such an allocation to be a one-time-only deal.
The approach adopted by the Senate still infuriates many members of her caucus, and Pelosi had yet to fully make her case to dissenters, a source told Politico.
The result: Pelosi summoned Reid to her office – her turf – to hash out unspecified modifications to the package prior to a 5:15 re-convening of the conference committee.
People close to Pelosi painted a different picture – one that portrays Reid as the one being rolled. Pelosi, they say, strategically permitted Reid to make his announcement – and then held up her approval to extract a slightly better deal.
Contradicting other sources who said that Pelosi had been blindsided, a House Democratic aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that Reid had placed a “head’s up” phone call to Pelosi before announcing the deal.
Whatever the real story, Pelosi’s members were more than a little bewildered and headed into Wednesday’s night’s negotiation singing their Kumbayas through gritted teeth.
“[Senate Democrats] don’t know everything that’s in the bill,” said a laughing Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Ways and Committee. “So I’m afraid to go to that damned conference.”
Even Senate Democrats seemed a little flummoxed. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), briefing reporters after the Reid presser, stopped short of actually saying he was 100 percent sure a deal had been cut.
"There was general agreement," he said. "It doesn't mean everything is locked in yet. But if we didn't have an agreement, then there wouldn't have been a news conference."
LOL and nasty toxic ones at that. I bet there isn’t enough botox in the world to cover either of them.
[First Shoe] Lawmakers have reached deal on stimulus plan, Sen. Reid announces
MSNBC.COM | 2/11/2009 | MSN
Posted on 02/11/2009 11:57:00 AM PST by Smogger
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2183424/posts
US Senate Republicans won’t delay stimulus:McConnell
(with McConnell contact info) Never give in!!
al Reuters | 2/11/2009
Posted on 02/11/2009 4:02:05 PM PST by markomalley
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2183597/posts
Republicans Shut Out of Stimulus Conference Negotiations (Defeat Porkulus!)
Human Events | Wednesday, February 11, 2009 | Connie Hair
Posted on 02/11/2009 8:48:37 AM PST by kristinn
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2183252/posts
Pelosi frustrated by Senate
[Spector, Snowe & Collins threaten to pull out. Kill Porkulus]
Politico | 02/11/2009 | By GLENN THRUSH
Posted on 02/11/2009 3:29:34 AM PST by Jim Robinson
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2183035/posts
Why I Stormed Sen. Specter’s Office
(by Melanie Morgan, Porkulus Freep Makes Wash. Times!)
The Washington Times | Wednesday, February 11, 2009 | Melanie Morgan
Posted on 02/10/2009 7:28:06 PM PST by kristinn
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2182901/posts
Alert – Stop Congress From Restricting Your Property Rights.
ATR | Grover Norquist
Posted on 02/10/2009 10:32:31 PM PST by nateriver
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2182985/posts
How do those freaking bastards live with themselves!
“Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down...”
as someone previously posted...
I’m beginning to feel like Anne Frank..
the known world turned upside down.
Stripped bare of mans chicanery, the veneer fading and pulled back..this world of mans construct is beginning to look ugly and tattered.
Fortunately, the Son is risen.
America is getting rolled and these elitists jackasses that did it to us, will flee to their sanctuaries in Switzerland, Costa Rica, etc.
:’) Harry Vidurchi, Pelosi.
R E I D I C U L O U S ! ! !
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