You have to give Pelosi some credit. One of my colleagues commented that she must have been eating spinach.

The House is NOT going to take up the Senate passed version of the new domestic surveillence bill which grants telecom companies immunity. The House Dems tried to extend the current law to make time to go into conference and resolve the differences between the House- and Senate-passed versions of the bill before time ran out, but that got shot down. The main difference between the bills is the question of legal immunity for telecommunications companies that handed over personal information to the feds without a warrant, which violates civil and criminal law.

President Bush, of course, has said that if the House doesn't shut up and pass the Senate version of the bill (and grant the telecos immunity from all the lawsuits that have sprung up as a result) it will imperil every red-blooded American. Sweeping immunity for some telecom companies that knowingly broke the law IS THAT IMPORTANT. Both the House and Senate bills give the government expanded authority to snoop - but this isn't about that, is it?

But it looks like Pelosi is going to call the bluff and let the bill expire while they fight it out over immunity. Kudos.

This story got buried in the holiday news black hole - an exchange of letters between Brian Lamb, founder of C-SPAN (see Read More) and new House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

C-SPAN asked the new House Speaker to allow more flexibility in their TV coverage of the House, to allow cameras to pan the floor in addition to the focus on the rostrum. Pelosi turned down the request, just as Newt Gingrich did when he became Speaker and was declaring a new era of openness for the House. Wrong decision by Gingrich, and wrong again by Pelosi.

Pelosi cited the "decorum" of the House -- apparently Members are doing things on the floor that they're embarassed the staid C-SPAN will televise to the nation. Sounds like the same old arguments of House leaders who originally opposed televising the proceedings at all (as did the Senate and, still, the Supreme Court).

C-SPAN also asked that vote tallies be made available immediately. There is currently an inexplicable delay in publishing the vote tallies in the House - which are already semi-public in lights in the House chamber. Pelosi said they would look at the issue, but cited some potential problems with "accuracy" and technical feasibility. Not credible. Just do it, Speaker Pelosi.

Days after President Bush was asked about DC Voting Rights at a news conference, the question came up at another, different, news conference on Capitol Hill -- Nancy Pelosi and the new House leadership.

When asked, Pelosi said she was a cospsonsor of the bill and would support it in the lameduck session.  Then Steny Hoyer of Maryland stepped up and gave a ringing endorsement, saying he would work hard to get it passed.  You can see the CSPAN clip here.