Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), sworn in Thursday to succeed late Rep. Tom Lantos (D), pulled no punches in her first speech on the House floor.
"The process to bring the troops home must begin immediately," Speier said.
She went on to criticize President Bush and John McCain, hours after the president said he would halt the withdrawal of U.S. troops in Iraq.
"The president wants to stay the course and a man who wants to replace him suggests we could be in Iraq for 100 years," Speier said. "But Madam Speaker, history will not judge us kindly if we sacrifice four generations of Americans because of the folly of one."
Several Republicans booed Speier after she knocked Bush and McCain, and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) walked out of the House chamber, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Though Speier is a new congresswoman, she's neither a stranger to Capitol Hill nor to harrying situations abroad. In 1978, she was chief of staff to Rep. Leo Ryan (D-Calif.) and accompanied him when he investigated the Jonestown cult in Guyana. Ryan was killed by gunfire in an attack by cult members on the trip, and Speier was shot five times.
Read The Hill's story on Speier's past here. Watch Speier's swearing in and her first House speech below. She begins talking about Iraq about 8:20 into the video, which is just before the jeers begin.
Save the Whales was a movement that started in 1977 and soared in the 1980s. Save the Sharks could be next, or at least that's what Del. Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam) and seven other legislators were hoping for when they introduced a shark conservation measure on Thursday.
The Bordallo measure would seek to eliminate "an enforcement loophole" related to the transport of shark fins. In a floor speech, Bordallo said, "The rising demand for shark fins over past decades has also led to increases in the particularly exploitive practice of shark finning, where fins of sharks are removed and the carcass is discarded at sea."
Sharks don't attract any sympathy from beachgoers who fear a "Jaws"-like demise, but Bordallo says saving the sharks is vital to conserve marine ecosystems.
The other backers of the measure are Reps. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), Sam Farr (D-Calif.), Charlie Gonzales (D-Texas), Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.), Frank Pallone (D-N.J.). and Dels. Donna Christensen (D-V.I.) and Eni Faleomavaega (D-A.S.).
Former House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) was just spotted in the Speaker's Lobby just off the House floor.
Thomas left before the The Briefing Room could catch up with him but Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), a former Thomas aide who replaced his ex-boss, said Thomas regularly hangs out in his office.
Thomas served as Ways and Means Chairman from 2001 to 2006, when he retired from Congress.
President Bush said on Thursday that he will stop troop withdrawals from Iraq after July, following recommendations made this week by Gen. David Petraeus.
"Fifteen months ago, Americans were worried about the prospect of failure in Iraq," said Bush in remarks at the White House. "Today, thanks to the surge, we've renewed and revived the prospect of success."
Bush added that he agreed to go ahead with the removal of five brigades this spring and summer, something his administration had long planned. Responding to Petraeus's call this week for any more troop reductions to be "conditions-based," Bush said "he'll have all the time he needs."
Bush again called on Congress to pass a war spending bill without any timetables for troop withdrawals, and he said the bill should be no greater than $108 million.
He then tied the effort in Iraq to other anti-terrorist operations against al Qaeda in Afghanistan and throughout the Middle East.
"If we fail [in Iraq], al Qaida would claim a propaganda victory of colossal proportions and they could gain safe havens in Iraq from which to attack the United States, our friends and our allies," Bush said. "Iran would work to fill the vacuum in Iraq... The Taliban in Afghanistan and al Qaeda in Pakistan would grow in confidence and boldness. And violent extremists around the world would draw the same dangerous lesson they did from our retreats in Somalia and Vietnam."
UPDATE 4:45 p.m.: The Hill's Mike Soraghan reports that Senate Majority Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected Bush's demand that Congress pass the war funding bill he wants.
VoteVets.org continued to criticize Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) this afternoon over a video of McHenry in the Green Zone in Baghdad that McHenry pulled from his website Monday.
The Charlotte Observer reported today that the Pentagon advised McHenry to take the video down, as it posed a security risk.
The Pentagon has told North Carolina Congressman Patrick McHenry (R) not to re-post video on his website that the lawmaker shot in Iraq during a March trip, the Charlotte Observer reported.
McHenry is accused by the veterans group Vote Vets of breaching operational security by videotaping and posting video from an enemy rocket attack. On the video McHenry says a rocket "hit just over my head" and mentions two other locations struck by rockets. Following the complaint, McHenry's office took down the video.
From the Charlotte Observer:
On Friday, his Web site featured a video shot in the fortified section of Baghdad known as the Green Zone. McHenry could be seen gesturing to a building behind him and saying that one of 11 rockets "hit just over my head." Then he named two other places struck by the rockets.
On Monday, a veterans group called VoteVets.org accused McHenry of giving away intelligence information that could have aided terrorist organizations in targeting the Green Zone.
"The bottom line is that whoever launched that strike could take the information McHenry provided and use it to kill Americans in the Green Zone," wrote Brandon Friedman, vice chairman of VoteVets.org, a veterans advocacy group that has called for troop withdrawal and promoted veterans for political office.
A Pentagon spokesman told the Observer visitors are "routinely briefed" on operational rules. "We do not as a matter of policy discuss attacks in a way that would provide the enemy any better understanding of the effectiveness of their attacks," the spokesman told the paper.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) urged San Francisco protesters that will demonstrate against Chinese government actions when the Olympic torch comes to the city to do so "peacefully and respectfully."
"Many will exercise this right by demonstrating against the Olympic torch," Pelosi said in a statement. "I urge all those who protest to do so peacefully and respectfully. I commend those who speak out for their commitment to shining a light on the causes that challenge the conscience of the world."
Pelosi acknowledged the importance of the protests, noting "freedom-loving people around the world are vigorously protesting because of the crackdown in Tibet and Beijing
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