Emerging Grievances Within Party Likely to Test Pelosi

Now, some of the most powerful Democratic chairmen, such as Energy and Commerce's John D. Dingell (Mich.), Appropriations' David R. Obey (Wis.), and even ideological allies such as Oversight and Government Reform's Henry A. Waxman (Calif.), are openly questioning her decision.

They point to Republican experiences with term limits, when candidates for vacated chairmanships competed with one another to raise political cash for GOP candidates and offered legislative fealty to their leaders to win appointments.

That competition strengthened the hand of the leadership and introduced politics -- even the taint of corruption -- to a process that once ran on simple seniority, some Democrats note.

But Pelosi has stood her ground, arguing that fresh blood needs to circulate through the committees. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said the excesses of those competitions were the products of the Republican Party, not the process.

"Tom DeLay created that culture," he said, referring to the Republican former House majority leader. "That's not us."

Some Democrats were frustrated with her decision not to give Republicans a chance to offer even one amendment on the six bills that passed in the initial spate. Pelosi promised the Republicans that they will have more input on other matters, but some Democrats say she has unnecessarily ceded the moral high ground.

"As we try to move forward, we have to make sure transparency and cooperation is part of the legislative process," said Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.), an advocate of more comity in the House.

Some rank-and-file members see bias toward "bicoastal liberals" in Pelosi's inner circle -- particularly Reps. George Miller (D-Calif.) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) -- and short shrift given to the views of Midwesterners and more conservative Southern Democrats.

On the war front, two Democratic camps have developed. Liberals and antiwar stalwarts such as Murtha, one of Pelosi's closest allies, want to aggressively use the power of the purse to affect policy, possibly by denying funds for increased troop strength in Iraq. But some senior Democrats and members of the leadership, such as Emanuel and House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.), counsel a go-slow approach, in which Democrats start with a nonbinding resolution against the president's policies, use hearings to build up public support for more dramatic action, and gauge voter feelings before legislative action to stop a military buildup in Iraq.

In the most public breach, Pelosi created a special committee dedicated to global warming, infuriating Dingell, whose committee would inevitably lose jurisdiction. Dingell fumed: "These kinds of committees are as useful in relevance as feathers on a fish."

The move crystallized fears among some moderate Democrats that Pelosi would "policy shop" to produce the legislative outcome she wants, even if that outcome goes against the grain of the moderates' constituents, several House members said.

At a rancorous closed-door meeting of the Energy and Commerce Committee last week, members of all political stripes backed Dingell and threatened to subject the proposed committee to a public execution on the House floor. One conservative Democrat said Friday that the issue could turn even nastier than the race between Hoyer and Murtha for majority leader.

"These are very major blunders on her part," said a senior Democratic adviser who served for years in the House and spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of breaching his ongoing relationships. "The general feeling is that she keeps her own political counsel. She doesn't have any staff who are her eyes and ears and can tell her what's really going on in the caucus."

Emanuel conceded some missteps and miscommunication, but he said they are not indicative of larger issues. Committee chairmen can abide term limits, Emanuel said, but they should have been informed of her thinking on the subject. "Nobody likes being caught by surprise," he said.

The fears created by the new panel on global climate change stem largely from concerns that the committee will be permanent, amassing influence at the expense of other panels, Emanuel said. Pelosi will put in writing that it will be disbanded at the end of the 110th Congress.

Pelosi spokeswoman Jennifer Crider said that the speaker has confidence and trust in her committee chairmen but that Pelosi also wants to create new platforms from which fresh voices can be heard. New task forces have been created to get the pulse of members in their 30s, veterans and rural representatives. There is a new black working group to supplement the long-standing Congressional Black Caucus and a faith working group to give a voice to the religious.

Such groups may compete with traditional power centers, but Pelosi will stand by her efforts, aides to the speaker say.