Nancy Pelosi accuses John Boehner of ‘hubris’ in running Congress

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi accused Speaker John A. Boehner of “hubris” Thursday, saying his invitation to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak to a joint session of Congress broke with custom, and his decision to cut the size of House committees was dictatorial.

Mrs. Pelosi, California Democrat, said cutting the committee sizes was a problem because Democrats have more “diversity” in their caucus, and need bigger committees so all of those divergent members can be accommodated.

“But somehow the press has chosen to ignore that,” she said.

She said inviting Mr. Netanyahu was a breach of protocol, echoing the White House’s complaint from a day earlier. Mr. Netanyahu is scheduled to speak on Feb. 11, but Mr. Boehner didn’t inform the administration ahead of time of the invitation. The White House said it usually is notified when foreign heads of state visit.

“It’s hubris to say, you know, ’I rule. I’ll decide,’” Mrs. Pelosi said.

Mr. Boehner said Wednesday he didn’t consult the White House but wasn’t “poking anyone in the eye” with the invitation, which he announced the morning after Mr. Obama vowed to veto new sanctions on Iran, should Congress try to pass them.

“There is a serious threat that exists in the world and the president, last night, kind of papered over it,” Mr. Boehner said. “There needs to be a more serious conversation in America about how serious the threat is from radical Islamic jihadists and the threat posed by Iran.”