Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has requested that every House member receive a top-level briefing on President Obama's request for 30,000 additional troops in Afghanistan, according to a senior aide -- an unusual move demonstrating the high stakes of the war debate.

Obama dispatched Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to the Capitol on Wednesday to testify before a pair of House and Senate committees Wednesday. They will go before two more congressional committees Thursday.

Other key advisers, including Gen. David H. Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command, and Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry, will appear before key committees early next week, with Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the Afghan war commander, appearing after that.

The armed services and foreign relations committees cover about a fifth of Congress's total membership. Pelosi wants every House member to be able to see in person a briefing from Obama's top members of the war council, the aide said.

Such a briefing would likely be held on the House floor, which is sometimes used for critical classified matters for the entire chamber to consider. Obama is likely to approve the request, with the massive briefing possibly happening as early as next week.

By Paul Kane, The Washington Post, December 2, 2009