By Kathy Kiely, Fredreka Schouten and Matt Kelley, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Rep. John Murtha, a decorated Vietnam combat veteran and critic of the Iraq war, died Mondayof complications from gall bladder surgery. He was 77.
The Pennsylvania lawmaker was the top Democrat on the panel that oversees Pentagon spending. He completed his 36th year in Congress last week. Murtha's death leaves House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., without a key ally on defense and foreign policy issues. It also puts another Democratic congressional seat up for grabs in a year when President Obama's party is struggling to maintain its 78-vote edge in the House.

Murtha was the first Vietnam combat veteran elected to Congress and the first Democrat elected in 1974 in what would become the Watergate tidal wave, named after the scandal that culminated with Richard Nixon's resignation as president. He won a previously Republican-held seat in a special election by 242 votes.