Pelosi says she will not whip an eventual resolution by applying pressure to her members. Pelosi sends fifth letter on Syria

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi sent a fifth letter to Democratic colleagues in a week in an attempt to bolster support for a measure to authorize a U.S. strike in Syria.

In the letter sent Saturday, Pelosi (D-Calif.) highlighted statements supporting the strike by President Barack Obama and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.).


“Here in California, we are blessed with the leadership of Senator Barbara Boxer, who voted for the resolution marked up this week in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,” Pelosi wrote to Democrats.

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Pelosi, who has said she will not whip an eventual resolution by applying pressure to her members, has nonetheless engaged in a public display of support. In earlier letters, Pelosi emphasized the importance of the strike and has told members she will be flexible about the eventual language in a use-of-force authorization.

With most Republicans likely to balk at the president’s request, any success in passing a resolution in the House will be heavily dependent upon Democrats. But Democrats aren’t enthusiastically lining up to support the president.

Pelosi also drew attention to Obama’s remarks that he had not set a red line in Syria, but that Congress set one in the 2003 Syria Accountability Act.

“In Sweden this week, the President said ‘I didn’t set a red line; the world set a red line,’” Pelosi wrote. “He continued saying ‘Congress set a red line when it indicated that – in a piece of legislation titled the Syria Accountability Act – that some of the horrendous things that are happening on the ground there need to be answered for.’”

And while Pelosi has yet to outright ask for support in the five letters she’s sent, she has been emphatic about the need to continue the discussion.

“I look forward to continuing this critical debate,” she concluded in the latest letter. “Thank you for your leadership.”