House GOP Blasts Pelosi for Plane Request

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 8, 2007, before the House Science and Technology Committee hearing on climate change. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) (Susan Walsh - AP)

"I do not question the imperative of providing for the safety of the speaker of the United States House of Representatives," said Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind. "On the subject of whether this is a silly debate, I think it is silly to question the right of the minority to question public expenditures."

And so it went for nearly two hours. The bill passed 400-3, with the amendment included.

Amid the hubbub, House Sergeant-at-Arms Bill Livingood, who is charged with the speaker's security, issued a statement saying it actually was he, not Pelosi, who had requested that the military provide the larger plane so Pelosi could fly nonstop to San Francisco.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Pentagon agreed to provide the House speaker, who is second in the line of presidential succession behind the vice president, with a military plane for added security during trips home. Hastert flew in a commuter-size Air Force jet.

"The fact that Speaker Pelosi lives in California compelled me to request an aircraft that is capable of making nonstop flights for security purposes, unless such an aircraft is unavailable," Livingood said in a statement. "I regret that an issue that is exclusively considered and decided in a security context has evolved into a political issue."

The Pentagon informed Pelosi's staff this week that she would get a plane, based on availability, and that nonstop service could not be guaranteed.

Pelosi said Thursday that she'd be happy to fly commercial.

"We never asked for a larger plane. This is a myth that (the Republicans) are talking about on the floor," she said. "They have nothing to say to the American people about the war, the economy, global warming and the rest. So they have this game they're playing."

Back on the House floor, 83-year-old Rep. Ralph Hall, R-Texas, offered that it probably would be cheaper if he rode the bus home to Dallas every weekend, but that that issue could be debated some other time.

"The only airplane I'm thinking about," he said, "is the one I wanted to be on at 12:30, heading for Texas."