Imperious Pelosi Rankles Rangel
The New York Post reports some trouble in paradise just one week into the new Congress. It seems Charlie Rangel is not at all happy with some of Nancy Pelosi's decisions lately and is more than willing to buck her publicly.
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.
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."
There's more. It does not look at all like the storied discipline Pelosi supposedly wielded before the elections, does it? What it looks like is the seniority system taking precedent over party discipline. Pelosi frankly made a huge mistake by trying to get John Murtha elected over Hoyer. That public loss appears to have come back to haunt her in record time. Want to bet Rahm Emanuel is already warming up in the bullpen?
By TC@LeatherPenguin, Friday, 12 January , 2007 @ 7:51 pm
She really has no idea how much she has no control over Charley, but she soon will!
By Gaius, Friday, 12 January , 2007 @ 7:53 pm
Looks that way.