CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS SIGNAL WILLINGNESS TO CHALLENGE AND CURTAIL BUSH'S WARMAKING POWERS

[DeepModem Mom]

WP, page one: Pelosi Backs War Funds Only With Conditions
Equipment, Training For Troops Would Face New Standards
By Jonathan Weisman and Shailagh Murray
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, February 16, 2007; Page A01

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) yesterday linked her support for President Bush's war-funding request to strict standards of resting, training and equipping combat forces, a move that could curtail troop deployments and alter the course of U.S. involvement in Iraq.

The pledge came as Congress appears ready to assert its authority in matters of war and diplomacy, down to decisions that the White House believes to be the domain solely of the president as commander in chief: the deployment and training of military forces.

The House is to vote today on a nonbinding resolution disapproving of Bush's decision to deploy more than 21,000 additional troops to Iraq. Also, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) announced a rare Saturday vote to begin debate on the House resolution.

Congressional Democrats signaled a willingness to directly challenge and curtail Bush's warmaking powers, a move that will almost certainly spark a legal or constitutional confrontation. Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), a Pelosi ally, is rewriting the president's spending request to limit Bush's options in prosecuting the war, and Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said he will seek to repeal the 2002 congressional authorization for Bush to wage war in Iraq and substitute legislation that would narrow the mission of troops there and begin to bring some home....

***

The speaker backed Murtha's plan to eliminate funding for the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, where a prisoner-abuse scandal badly tarnished the U.S. image in the region and the world. She also strongly endorsed binding legislation requiring Bush to seek congressional authorization before any military strike on Iran....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/15/AR2007021500876.html

[illinoisprogressive]

1. murtha's going for the jugular and he controls the purse strings. hehehehe

[Fridays Child]

2. Thay'd better do something. Ending this war is why Americans gave them the majority.

In case they've already forgotten.

[niceypoo]

3. I will believe it when I see it

[PATRICK]

4. You are seeing it.

Now they are moving against the president's right to make irrational war. I hope this process is as fast as our carriers moving in to the wind and confronts our mad regime. The main reason this is so slow and deliberate is the dampening of urgency by our MIA media and cold feet dragging GOP.

The full weight of the real American public is behind this and obviously much more and much faster. these are perilous times for those facing enormous amounts of death and mayhem at the behest of Commander Cheney.

[aquart]

7. No. It's slow because our government is set up to work slow.

It also cannot function without compromise, which is something else the Founding Fathers put in deliberately.

The worst horrors of BushCo have occurred because the slow down and think about it steps were bypassed and ignored.

[niceypoo]

9. I have watched the democrats bend over for the last six years

and play the "Me too" bush lite card. My skepticism is well founded. I will believe it when I see it.

[lonestarnot]

5. Wooodamnwhoo and can they throw him out on the lawn while they're at it?

[alittlelark]

6. Pelosi will make good on her statements

She's my Rep, I love her, respect her, and KNOW she is smarter than the chickenhawks in the WH.. She has been in control for less than 5 weeks....what a GREAT 5 weeks. She is smart, thinks ahead, and is the FOX that will take out the chickenhawk house.

[LonelyLRLiberal]

8. and she looks so sweet while she's doing it.

She's great.

[opihimoimoi]

10. Poor Bush and his pitiful GOP...stymied by the majority Dems

who are flexing their new muscles......

BushCo is flummoxed.....Silence of the Lambs .....as even their own peeps flee the ship......Damn....the number grows

as Bush continues his stubborn ways and House of Cards tumble...Double Damn...

[tom_paine]

11. I hope this is true.

I'll believe it when I see it.

[DeepModem Mom]

12. a.m. kick

[bigtree]

13. those weak-willed, cowardly, DLC bastards . . .

"Congress appears ready to assert its authority in matters of war and diplomacy, down to decisions that the White House believes to be the domain solely of the president as commander in chief"

"a willingness to directly challenge and curtail Bush's warmaking powers"

"The speaker backed Murtha's plan to eliminate funding for the Abu Ghraib"

"She also strongly endorsed binding legislation requiring Bush to seek congressional authorization before any military strike on Iran"

those wonderful, committed, courageous DNC patriots! :P

[JohnnyLib2]

14. Murtha!

In the quaint language of the past, I'm a dove. And I have great admiration for Murtha, "the hawkish congressman" for his strong and steady stand on this matter. Maybe our grandchildren will find him in a prominent place in the history of this Iraq disaster.


K & R

[sweetheart]

15. Where are the New York representatives?

Why arn't they openly demanding a reopening of the 911 investigation,
and nailing those bastards for arranging a crime.