White House Defends Pelosi In Flap Over Airplane Request

By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press | February 9, 2007

WASHINGTON — Rep. Nancy Pelosi received some rare help yesterday from the White House against a barrage of Republican criticism over how the new House speaker intends to get back home.

For security reasons, Ms. Pelosi is entitled to fly to her San Francisco district on military planes.

The House sergeant-at-arms, Rep. Bill Livingood, who helps oversee security for the House, suggested that flying nonstop would be the safest way home for Ms. Pelosi, who is next after the vice president in the line of presidential succession.

Republicans, led by aggressive junior lawmakers, seized on the most extreme possibility: Ms. Pelosi's flying on the military equivalent of a Boeing 757 with the latest in travel comforts.

Too expensive, some critics said. Too polluting, others said. Too much ado about nothing, the White House weighed in.

"I have never asked for any larger plane," Ms. Pelosi said. "I have said that I am happy to ride commercial if the plane they have doesn't go coast to coast."

The presidential spokesman Tony Snow said, "This is a silly story, and I think it's been unfair to the speaker."

During debate on a bill that encouraged research on advanced fuels, Republicans proposed an amendment urging planes diversify their fuel load to include "domestically produced alternative fuels." The amendment singled out "passenger planes with 42 business class seats capable of transcontinental flights" — exactly the specifications of an Air Force C-32 jet.

"The jet that Pelosi has produces 10,000 pounds of carbon dioxide an hour, far more than the previous speaker used," Rep. Patrick McHenry, a Republican of North Carolina, said. Ms. Pelosi's predecessor was Rep. Dennis Hastert, a Republican of Illinois.

Flying in a large Air Force plane, Rep. Mark Kirk, a Republican of Illinois, said, "appears to remove any spending controls from our operations and dramatically increases our impact on the environment especially climate change."

After the attacks of September 11, 2001, the White House agreed to provide Mr. Hastert with a military plane for added security during trips back home. Mr. Hastert flew in a commuter-sized Air Force jet.