GOP wants Iraq withdrawal proponent Murtha reprimanded for threat

GOP wants Iraq withdrawal proponent Murtha reprimanded for threat

A Michigan congressman and former FBI agent wants his colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives to officially reprimand a senior Democrat and close ally of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi for an angry threat he issued on the House floor.

Representative Mike Rogers (R-Michigan) says he was shouted down by Defense Appropriations chairman John Murtha (D-Pennsylvania) on the House floor for challenging a $23 million earmark Murtha requested in an intelligence bill. The earmark was for the National Drug Intelligence Center, a facility in Murtha’s Pennsylvania district.

Rogers says when he argued that the earmark was a wasteful government program spending money that could be better used to support human intelligence operations overseas, Murtha "became unhinged."

Congressman Murtha's response was the "threat," the Michigan representative contends, "that if you disagree with me and if you talk about it, then your district will not now or forever be able to participate in a Defense Appropriations bill -- which was clearly intended for intimidation and threatening. I'm an old FBI guy, and I know the difference between impassioned politics and Sopranos-style threats -- and this certainly was the latter."

This incident is part of a pattern of activity on Murtha's part, Rogers asserts. "This wasn't his first time doing it," he says. "It happened to me last week, another member the week before. It got to the point where I said, 'Enough is enough.' I didn't get sent to Congress to cower under my desk under the fear of some Appropriations chairman not following the House rules."

Rogers says he "felt so strongly" about what happened that he determined the matter should be put out on the House floor. He has filed a resolution to reprimand Murtha for violating the House rule that bars members from blocking earmarks based on how a colleague votes. Associated Press reports that Speaker Pelosi is defending Murtha against Rogers' request for a reprimand.