PRESSURE’S ON PELOSI TO CALL OFF HOUSE VOTE
By Richard Simon
Seattle Times, WA
Oct 18 2007
WASHINGTON – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi came under increasing pressure
from members of her Democratic caucus Wednesday not to bring a
resolution officially recognizing the Armenian genocide to a vote.
The California Democrat, who had promised to bring the long-debated
resolution to the floor, sounded uncertain about its fate as support
has waned in the face of denunciations from Turkey and realizations
that the symbolic resolution could disrupt U.S. military operations
in Iraq and Afghanistan. "Whether it will come up or not, or what
the action will be, remains to be seen," she said.
The Bush administration and the Turkish government – aided by
high-paid, well-connected lobbyists – have ratcheted up their campaign
against the measure, which calls on the president to "accurately
characterize the systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1,500,000
Armenians as genocide."
Now top Democrats are leaning on Pelosi. Rep. John Murtha of
Pennsylvania, an influential Democrat on military matters, has urged
Pelosi not to bring the resolution to the floor. He said party leaders
miscalculated support for the measure. If the resolution is brought to
a vote now, he said, it would fail, with between 55 and 60 Democrats
opposing it.
Murtha, a close Pelosi ally who is a leader in efforts to withdraw
U.S. forces from Iraq, said he was worried the resolution could
lead Turkey to deny use of its land, ports and air space to supply
American troops.
Separately, a bipartisan group of 49 House members, including such
committee chairmen as Ike Skelton, D-Mo., of the Armed Services
Committee and Rep. Silverstre Reyes, D-Texas, of the Intelligence
Committee, sent Pelosi a letter urging her not to schedule a vote.
The resolution’s supporters weren’t ready to concede defeat.
They want to have a vote when they are confident they will prevail.
Pelosi has left it to the sponsors, led by Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.,
to gauge support.
"We want to win," Schiff said. "We always knew this was going to
be tough."
Bryan Ardouny, executive director of the Armenian Assembly of America,
said Pelosi is "pretty committed" to the resolution. "At the end of
the day, we’re confident that there will be a bipartisan majority"
supporting the measure, he said.
At least a dozen lawmakers have withdrawn as co-sponsors of the
resolution since it was approved by the House Foreign Affairs Committee
last week, leaving the list of co-sponsors short of a majority of the
House. Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., who pulled his name as a sponsor
Wednesday, said, "We need to hold the perpetrators of genocide
accountable, but this is not the right time for this resolution."
Bush again requested that Pelosi not bring the resolution to a vote.
"Congress has more important work to do than antagonizing a democratic
ally in the Muslim world, especially one that’s providing vital
support for our military every day," he said.
But the resolution’s supporters took Bush to task for being willing
to anger China by meeting the Dalai Lama in public Wednesday but
worrying about offending Turkey.
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