Ms Pelosi is either startin' to feel her oats ---

--- or else Cindy Sheehan's intent to run against her in the election this fall has sure gotten her attention! We're all gonna hear a lot more about this topic in the months to come.

GOP fears Pelosi power grab on Iraq

Martin Kady II April 29, 2008

Republicans are howling over what appears to be Nancy Pelosi’s plan to bypass the House Appropriations Committee on the upcoming Iraq war supplemental, complaining that the move will be the beginning of the end of the usual appropriations process and will further consolidate power in the hands of a speaker who already has a lot of it.
Democrats will meet throughout the week to hash out their strategy, and they insist that Pelosi and other Democratic leaders have not yet made any final decisions about how to handle what’s likely to be the last Iraq funding debate of the Bush presidency. But Republican and Democratic appropriations staffers say Pelosi’s office is seriously considering skipping over their committee to take a $178 billion war funding bill — $70 billion more than the president wants — straight to the House floor.
Although it wouldn’t be the first time Pelosi bypassed one of the most powerful Democratic chairmen in her caucus — last year, the speaker circumvented Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.) by creating a special global warming subcommittee outside the authority of his committee — sources say Pelosi won’t bypass the Appropriations Committee unless she has the blessing of its chairman, Rep. Dave Obey (D-Wis.).
Neither Pelosi’s office nor Obey’s would comment on the plan Monday.

I reckon we won't have the usual Beltway doldrums this summer...