Pelosi: No More Blank Checks For Bush On Iraq

Newly sworn-in House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi is making it clear today that the days when President George Bush gets a blank check to sign on the Iraq war are most decidedly over. While she is not threatening an attempt to cut off funding for the war — a move that would be political suicide for the Democratic Party at this point (and would not pass, anyway) — she is noting that there are other ways that Congress can and could well decide to control the purse strings.

If you boil it all away, it comes down to her serving notice that there will be oversight and the executive branch will have to start answering to Congress, rather than assuming Congress will ratify whatever it asks for or demands. See Taylor Marsh for the details as well as a You Tube with Pelosi that you can watch, so you can make up your own mind.