A measure that would have kept the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from using State Department funds to visit Syria was overwhelmingly defeated. The amendment, attached to the foreign operations spending bill by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) targeted Rep. Nancy Pelosi (R-Calif.), was a response to Pelosi’s leading of a delegation to Syria in April. The White House at the time attacked Pelosi for conducting unauthorized diplomacy. She countered that she did not diverge from Bush administration policy in her talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad. “I was one of the members of Congress that was incensed the Speaker had taken it upon herself to conduct foreign policy,” King told The Hill newspaper on Thursday. The amendment would have banned travel to Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Sudan as well as Syria, and targeted only the speaker. Pelosi’s trip during the April break was sandwiched between trips led by Republicans. On Friday, the amendment was defeated 337 to 84, garnering the opposition of about 100 Republicans as well as the entire Democratic caucus.
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