A Democratic engineered emergency supplemental bill to continue funding the occupation of Iraq and the war in Afghanistan to the tune of $162 billion is expected to win bipartisan support, aides to leaders in the House said late Wednesday.
The bill, as currently drafted, does not contain any conditions for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq nor does it restrict how President Bush can conduct military operations. The legislation ensures both wars are funded well into 2009 and comes nearly two years after Democrats won majorities in Congress and the Senate largely on promises to resist handing the Bush administration “blank-checks” for Iraq and a pledge to immediately bring U.S. troops home.
A spokesperson for Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was unavailable for comment.
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Congressional leaders intend to hand the legislation to the Senate Thursday. The White House indicated Bush will sign the legislation into law if it passes both Houses, which Democratic leaders said is the likely outcome.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told Reuters the bipartisan legislation tackles “important domestic needs” in addition to the war funding. Hoyer and House Minority Leader John Boehner, (R-Ohio), announced the compromise between their political parties.
The latest round of funding comes two weeks after the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence issued a scathing prewar Iraq intelligence report that accused Bush, Vice President Cheney, and other senior administration officials of knowingly lying to the public and Congress about Iraq’s arsenal of chemical and biological weapons as well as its ties to the terrorist group al-Qaeda in order to win support for a U.S. led invasion.
Democrats Give White House Another Blank-Check For Iraq
By Jason Leopold, The Public Record, Wednesday, June 18, 2008
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“Why don’t you tell me? ‘Cause I think we’re doing just great.” Remember when Georgie stumbled over a similar question and couldn’t recall any mistakes? It seems Our Only President is not the only one so afflicted.
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I know! Let’s elect more Democrats! Wait . . . we already did that . . .
The State is the executive committee of the ruling class. –Marx
that Nancy Pelosi has a more liberal voting record than Obama, Clinton, Edwards, etc. So I hope people are braced for some disappointments in the coming years.
That isn’t to say I don’t expect the new Democratic administration to do very good things – but that we’re going to have to push hard if we expect them to do great things, because they don’t seem willing to on their own.
Wha…? Oops, sorry. I was dreaming again, but I’m awake now.
The Dem-icans caved? Again? Did you really think they would vote against their own stock portfolio? War is Good Business! Just ask Halliburton, KBR, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Blackwater….
And this is the only way we can get the $2.6 billion flood relief that’s included? To bundle it into this monstrosity?
This is a done deal, but call your member of Congress and demand a “no” vote. Let’s at least make ’em squirm.
What a surprise, huh Edger.