After losing spending battle, Pelosi eyes ’08 election

Congressional Democrats have lost their end-of-the-year showdown with President Bush, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) countered Thursday that the House succeeded in showing what Democrats can do, and would do, if a Democrat were in the White House.

“We signaled change. We made a difference,” Pelosi said. “Now, in order to get more done — we can get some of it done this year — but we need a Democratic president.”

{mosads}Pelosi doesn’t weigh in much on the presidential race, and she maintains strict neutrality in the Democratic nomination contest. But she has become increasingly vocal about dealing with a president who refuses her entreaties to negotiate. Yet, the White House’s hard-line strategy on spending paid off.

The House this week sent the Senate an alternative minimum tax (AMT) fix that the upper chamber is almost certain not to pass. Democrats have cut their spending plans down to the level Bush demanded, and haven’t even agreed amongst themselves what priorities to fund.

Even on the signature issue of Iraq, there are rumblings the Democratic-controlled Senate will add money for withdrawal without strings.

On Iraq in particular, Pelosi acknowledged at her Thursday news conference she’d misjudged the resolve of Republicans.

“They like this war,” she said. “They want this war to continue. That was a revelation to me. I had thought they would listen to their constituents and change their position.”

Pelosi later qualified her remark that Republicans “like” the war to say they like Bush’s strategy.

House Democrats have been increasingly willing in recent days to voice their frustration with the Senate. Pelosi called reports of House-Senate infighting “a nice story” for reporters, but stressed how much the two chambers have accomplished.

Nevertheless, she did question the need, born of Senate filibuster rules, for 60 votes to pass legislation.

“I don’t even know how it is constitutional,” said Pelosi.

The 60-vote barrier has been the reason many Democratic priorities have failed in the Senate, where Democrats have a thin 51-49 advantage. But Democrats found the 60-vote rule a saving grace when Republicans controlled all levers of federal power before the 2006 election.