H/T: Rich Lowery - The Corner (from Roll Call)
The top military commander in Iraq will make a rare visit to Capitol Hill next week but House Democratic leaders — unlike their Senate counterparts — initially declined the Defense Department’s offer of a Members-only closed-door briefing with Army Gen. David Petraeus, according to Congressional and administration sources.
A spokesman for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) at first acknowledged Tuesday that the PentagonÂ’s request to have Petraeus give a House briefing had been denied due to "scheduling conflicts" next week. Later on Tuesday, PelosiÂ’s office contacted Roll Call stating that the Speaker was now working to set up a session....
According to an administration official, Pelosi and Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) initially declined recent requests from the Defense Department to schedule a briefing on either Wednesday or Thursday of next week.
The Pentagon first approached Armed Services Committee aides to set up a briefing, but panel aides said they were "too busy" to schedule a meeting next week, the administration official said. A second attempt to set up a briefing with the SpeakerÂ’s office was likewise declined....
"ItÂ’s puzzling that for the first time that Gen. Petraeus is in the country since he was unanimously confirmed by the Senate that the House has declined an offer to talk to him. We would hope that they would reconsider," the official said before Pelosi reversed course Tuesday and agreed to set up a House-wide meeting with Petraeus next Thursday....
Democratic aides said the PentagonÂ’s request violated standard briefing protocols, as such sessions usually are conducted on a regular basis by the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of State. The aides said that sending Petraeus is an effort to blunt Democratic criticism of the war. |