Speaker Nancy Pelosi defended her pal, antiwar democrat John Murtha (D-PA), after he was accused of rules violations by Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich) on Friday.
Pelosi said she did not see the confrontation.
Well it wasn’t the first time…
Murtha threatened Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) just one week earlier. In case Speaker Pelosi missed that tirade, too-
Here’s the video:
(32 seconds)
FOX News reported on the House Floor confrontation on May 8, 2007, and posted the transcript.
Remember this baloney?…. “Most ethical Congress ever.”
Here is Pelosi’s defense of Murtha today.
The AP reported on Murtha’s fondness for earmarks today in their report on his threats against Republican Rogers:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record) is defending a close Democratic ally whom Republicans want to reprimand for threatening a GOP lawmaker’s spending projects.
Pelosi, D-Calif., said she had “no idea what actually happened” during a noisy exchange in the House chamber last week between Reps. John P. Murtha, D-Pa., and Mike Rogers, R-Mich.
“What I do know is that Congressman Murtha has — enjoys — an excellent reputation in the Congress on both sides of the aisle,” said Pelosi in a broadcast interview taped Friday and aired Sunday.
“He writes the defense appropriation bill in a bipartisan way each year and with the complete involvement of the Republicans as to who gets what on the Republican side,” she said.
Murtha is a 35-year House veteran who leads the House Appropriations subcommittee on military spending. He is known for a fondness for earmarks — carefully targeted spending items placed in appropriations bills to benefit a specific lawmaker or favored constituent group.
During a series of House votes Thursday, Murtha walked to the GOP side to confront Rogers, a former FBI agent. This month, Rogers had tried unsuccessfully to strike from an intelligence spending bill an item that would restore $23 million for the National Drug Intelligence Center, a facility in Murtha’s Pennsylvania district.
According to Rogers’ account, which Murtha did not dispute, the Democrat angrily told Rogers he should never seek earmarks of his own because “you’re not going to get any, now or forever.”
“This was clearly designed to try to intimidate me,” Rogers told The Associated Press on Friday. “He said it loud enough for other people to hear.”
Figures. So much for draining the swamp!
Previously:
Murtha Threatens Fellow Congressman On House Floor!… VIDEO!
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