U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s scheduled visit to Lawrence today was canceled Thursday, but her staff members indicated they hoped to reschedule it.

“We will no doubt want to do that,” said Drew Hammill, a spokesman for Pelosi, D-Calif.

The first female speaker in the country’s history was scheduled to talk at 11:30 a.m. today at the Dole Institute of Politics at Kansas University before headlining an evening fundraiser in the Kansas City area for U.S. Rep. Nancy Boyda, D-Kan.

Dole Institute staff members said they were encouraged that Pelosi hoped to return when she could.

“I anticipate that we will be getting another date, and we’ll be ready because we had everything prepared,” said Barbara Ballard, the institute’s associate director.

The announcement came as Pelosi said the House will vote as early as today on legislation that would spend $50 billion on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but require that President Bush start bringing troops home.

The money is about a quarter of the $196 billion requested by Bush. It would finance about four months of combat in Iraq, Pelosi told reporters Thursday.

Pelosi spokesman Hammill said the House would likely be in session into the evening. As for rescheduling, he said the speaker’s schedule seems to be full for the next couple of months.

Thomas Seay, a Boyda spokesman, said the Kansas congresswoman would remain in Washington and not miss votes. Decisions were still being made about the scheduled fundraiser.