WHILE CITIES AND states around the country are scrambling to cut essential services to stem red-ink hemorrhaging, President George W. Bush is asking Congress for another $82 billion to continue the war in Iraq. The money's on the fast track and will almost certainly be approved. But Democratic leaders in Congress need to make a clear statement against Bush's priorities – and so far, San Francisco representative Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader, is refusing to oppose the allocation.

Pelosi and other Democrats have come up with all sorts of justifications for going along with Bush's war spending: they want to "support the troops," they want to make sure there's money for armor and supplies. But the truth is, the $82 billion is a blank check to continue a war that should never have been started. A few progressive House members, led by Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Petaluma), are calling for an immediate plan to begin withdrawing the troops; at the very least, Congress ought to refuse to spend any more money until Bush shows how he intends to pay for it.

The San Francisco Labor Council passed a resolution in February calling on Pelosi to endorse Woolsey's resolution and to vote against the war-spending bill. The resolution even mentions "informational pickets" to persuade Pelosi to take the right stand. The rest of the local Democratic Party, which seems to support Pelosi no matter how far out of touch she is with her constituents, should join labor and demand she take a real stand here and vote against the war.

March against the war: the protest begins 11 a.m., March 19, at Dolores Park, S.F.