Printer-friendly versionSend to friend

February 4, 2009 (LPAC)--Days after Lyndon LaRouche called for the removal of Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Barney Frank for "conspiring to bankrupt the country," news is beginning to emerge of a Democratic Congressional revolt against Pelosi's leadership. Some 55 House Democrats have signed a still-circulating letter to Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), demanding that Pelosi stop freezing them out of legislative deliberations. And one of the leaders of the revolt, who says "We're treated like mushrooms most of the time" by Pelosi, says that the Obama White House is encouraging the letter.

Rep. Jim Cooper, (D-TN), in a Feb. 2 radio interview, said, "I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but I actually got some quiet encouragement from the Obama folks for what I'm doing because they know it's [the "stimulus bill"] a messy bill and they wanted a clean bill.... [Members] don't read the bills and figure out whether they're any good or not. We're just told how to vote. We're treated like mushrooms most of the time" by Pelosi. The Members' letter demands that Pelosi return the House immediately to "regular order" where legislation is studied by committees and by the study groups of the caucuses, rather than the leadership putting "emergency" bills directly on the floor for votes.

Significantly, "regular order" was first suspended by Pelosi for the bank bail-out legislation demanded by the Bush Administration Treasury Secretary, former Goldman Sachs CEO Hank Paulson. First, it was Paulson's amendment nationalizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in July; then, Paulson's $700 billion "TARP" bank bail-out bill in September. These bail-out bills were directly opposed to LaRouche's Homeowners and Bank Protection Act, killed by Pelosi and Rep. 'Barney Bail-out' Frank; the LaRouche legislation would have prevented those bank bail-outs.

In what may be a reference to Barney Frank, the 55 Members' letter says that they "have grown overly frustrated with how only small and select bands of legislators have been responsible for writing bills, such as the $700 billion Wall Street bail-out as well as much of the $819 billion economic stimulus bill."

In a late development today, Majority Leader Hoyer welcomed and endorsed the content of the rebels' letter.