Pelosi Turns to Confront Bush on War Spending

[babylonsister]

Pelosi Turns to Confront Bush on War Spending
By Jason Leopold, Maya Schenwar and Matt Renner
t r u t h o u t | Report

Friday 09 November 2007

A year after Democrats took control of both houses of Congress, due in large part to the public's frustration with the occupation of Iraq, Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled a new plan Thursday that ties additional war funding to the withdrawal of US troops from the region.

The so-called "A New Direction in Iraq" is an ambitious piece of legislation that would provide the Pentagon with $50 billion in short-term funding to continue operations in Iraq through early March, and set a "goal" of December 2008 for pulling soldiers out of the country.

The White House said Thursday evening President Bush would swiftly veto the bill if it reaches his desk. Pelosi fired back, telling some reporters following a meeting with Democrats Thursday afternoon that if Bush balks at the proposal she and her Democratic colleagues will not consider any Iraq funding for the rest of the year.

Republicans said if that were to happen the Pentagon would be out of cash to pay for Iraq operations by as early as January, a time frame that the Congressional Research Service, the nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress, has disputed.

Additionally, should specifically allocated war funds expire, Congress could use money from the general defense budget, since the language of the budget does not bar it from being channeled into operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Earlier this year, Democrats hammered out legislation tied to a $99.4 billion emergency-spending bill for Iraq that placed specific benchmarks on withdrawing and redeploying troops. Bush vetoed the legislation. In July, Democrats surrendered to White House demands, and criticism by Republicans who mocked their counterparts for their "cut-and-run" strategy. Democrats relented on the issue saying they did not have enough support to override a presidential veto and helped pass the emergency funds removing earlier restrictions they put in place. The move resulted in a widespread backlash against the lawmakers that helped sink their approval ratings.

Still, Pelosi said Democrats would not hand the White House another "blank check," at a news conference Thursday. "This is providing funding for the troops limited to a particular purpose, for a short time frame."

more...

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110907A.shtml

[ShortnFiery]

1. I can't help it ...

But the words "paper tiger in a thousand dollar pants suit" are the only ones that come to mind. :(

[99th_Monkey]

2. That might have been a good first step during Pelosi's first 100 hours

now a year later, it smacks of too little too late.

[kestrel91316]

3. Why do I smell the faint odor of "Eau de Cave" here??