$850 BILLION for Bush wars to date. Thank GOD Speaker Pelosi was able to stop that blank check shit.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Iraq War Spending Bill Passes By Congress

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/26/iraq-war-spending-bill-pa_n_109515.html

CHARLES BABINGTON | June 26, 2008 11:06 PM EST | AP

WASHINGTON — The Senate passed a $162 billion war spending plan Thursday, sending to President Bush legislation that will pay for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan until the next president takes office.

The package, approved 92-6, includes a doubling of GI Bill college benefits for troops and veterans. It also provides a 13-week extension of unemployment benefits and $2.7 billion in emergency flood relief for the Midwest.

The Senate, however, narrowly failed to approve a House-passed bill to cancel a scheduled cut in payments to doctors who treat Medicare patients.

It also failed to resolve differences over home mortgage legislation and the administration's electronic surveillance program. Those matters will await lawmakers when they return from a 10-day July break.

The spending bill will bring to more than $650 billion the amount Congress has provided for the Iraq war since it started more than five years ago. For operations in Afghanistan, the total is nearly $200 billion, according to congressional officials.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Md., right, speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 25, 2008. From left are, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., Rep. John B. Larson, D-Conn., Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill. and Hoyer. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Pelosi: No Blank Check For Bush In Iraq
CBS News Exclusive: New Speaker Hints That Congress Will Deny Funding

WASHINGTON, January 7, 2007



http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/07/ftn/main2335193.shtml

(CBS/AP) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said newly empowered Democrats will not give President Bush a blank check to wage war in Iraq, hinting they could deny funding if he seeks additional troops.

"If the president chooses to escalate the war, in his budget request, we want to see a distinction between what is there to support the troops who are there now," she said in an exclusive interview on Face The Nation.

"The American people and the Congress support those troops. We will not abandon them.

But if the president wants to add to this mission, he is going to have to justify it and this is new for him because up until now the Republican Congress has given him a blank check with no oversight, no standards, no conditions," said Pelosi, D-Calif.

Her comments came as Mr. Bush worked to finish his new war plan that could send as many as 20,000 additional U.S. troops to Iraq and provide more money for jobs and reconstruction programs.

[msongs]

1. pelosi and reid are disgusting nt

[wildbilln864]

2. you got that right! nt

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. When I think of universal healthcare or addressing our infrastructure needs I just

feel sick, SICK at the size of that number.

Of course the death and shattered lives are first and foremost what I hate about the war, but right behind it is the fact that I know that money could have been used to make life better and safer here at home. I don't worry about terrorists blowing up a dam. I do worry about an earthquake taking out an older one that should have been reinforced ages ago.

[Individualist]

4. Damn DLC!

[rpannier]

5. Yep...without the oversight by this congress DUH-bya might have gotten

$850,000,000,000.03

But pelosi was up there making sure that .03 was not erroneously spent

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

6. McCain has no trouble with funding nearly $1 trillion dollars worth of war

and yet when he promises if elected to spend a mere $2 billion a year for energy independence (including new nuclear plants and clean coal technology) he seems to think he's being very generous.

[Captain Angry]

7. I would love to see her interviewed by a real journalist.

Somebody who would ask her how she justifies her votes and her statements.

Amy Goodman had McClellan on her show recently and played video of him being a douchebag to Helen Thomas, and then asked him what he thought.

Something like that. Show the record, and ask the question.

[Hydra]

10. Actually...

As much as I hate Wolf Blitzer, this interview impressed me:

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0709/25/sitroom.02.html

BLITZER: So are you telling your angry base out there the Democratic Party that wants to see this war over with, wants to see the U.S. troops home that you as speaker, there is nothing you can do? You have to just throw your hands up and say ...

PELOSI: I didn't say that at all.

BLITZER: Given the legislative problems in the Senate and the president's stubborn refusal to back down, that there is nothing you could do?

PELOSI: How could you ever have gotten that impression when I have said, for those who pay attention, is that we will hold this administration accountable, time and time again for the conduct of this war in Iraq.

I don't have to discuss how we went in on the false premise. That's well known to the American people.

What we do have to do is show them every step of the way how the president is taking us farther down a path from which is going to be harder to redeploy out of Iraq.

BLITZER: But when you hold the president accountable, I just want you to explain what does that mean, besides just complaining and holding hearings? Specifically, is there anything else you can do?

PELOSI: Holding hearings and the oversight that we have on the corruption and contracting in Iraq, the hearings that we're holding and the harm to the readiness of our troops that the president is causing with his abstinence in this war in Iraq.

[warren pease]

24. This bizarre recitation of fantasy talking points sums up the whole disconnect for me ...

It's a rare glimpse into the delusional parallel universe these elitist swine inhabit -- all wrapped up in one single fact-free non-sentence.

PELOSI: Holding hearings and the oversight that we have on the corruption and contracting in Iraq, the hearings that we're holding and the harm to the readiness of our troops that the president is causing with his abstinence in this war in Iraq.

First off, what the hell is she talking about? Does that even make sense? Bushie is practicing "abstinence?"

Well, good for him. I'm sure Pickles thanks the vindictive old bastard in the sky for convincing the boy king to keep his slimy hands to himself.

I always figured they had those kids by artificial insemination anyway. They're so obviously repressed that it's pretty tough to imagine them um, er, that is... um... like... you know... Gawd that's an awful thought.

Anyway, the hearings and oversight. That's working out pretty well, with every single subpoena arrogantly ignored because you removed the best of all possible enforcement mechanisms from the goddamn table.

And the news is just full of all the corruption in Iraq... isn't it? Contracting? What the hell are you talking about, Ms. Nancy?

And the "...harm to the readiness of our troops..." You know what would be a really in-your-face gesture about all that? Tell Bushie to take the $10 billion they're spending on KBR and reallocate it to actual US troops.

And there's billions more to be had by firing these murderous skanks and giving that money to the poor kids who signed up to be all they can be and found out that actually means getting killed or maimed for the quarterly P&L statements of ExxonMobil or another of Cheney's favorite bottom feeders.

Or tell Cheney to part with a small percentage of his life's savings -- the gigantic sum of his decades of theft and corruption and shake-downs -- and donate that to the troops.

Maybe that's what she means by saying, "...we will hold this administration accountable, time and time again for the conduct of this war in Iraq." Or maybe not.


wp

[Captain Angry]

26. I'll bet abstinence meant OBstinence.

But she's still useless and the sooner we get somebody who is going to actually do something in there, the better.

Edit: I kant spel.

[Wilms]

8. .

[Golden Raisin]

9. She has now joined the elite club of people

like Bush, Cheney, Rove, Kristol, O'Reilly, Hannity, etc.) who when I even just glimpse their face on TV I cannot change the channel fast enough out of anger and contempt. History will not be kind to Pelosi.

[Hydra]

11. The real irony here was how many people were willing to defend Pelosi's action here

The number of people looking for a "deeper strategy" here was mind-boggling. They repeatedly asked us to give Pelosi a pass even as she pissed on all of us who helped get people elected in 2006 to put the brakes on Bush.

Anybody going to fess up and apologize for obstructing those of us who gave a damn about the troops???

[JuniperLea]

14. Well said, Hydra!

I remember those arguments here. They reminded me of arguments I had with people over the Bush lies going into war... all the bull people believed about WMD, etc... but this is worse because the Kool Aid swillers were in OUR court! Different lies, different liars, different day, same government.

I'll be waiting to see who apologizes... I'll fire up the popcorn maker... this could take a while.

[Hydra]

16. I'll have some of that in the mean time!

:popcorn:

[JuniperLea]

12. Scary how she lied her way in...

Just like her good ol' pal GW!

May they both rot in hell.

[Blue_Tires]

13. we can't afford to look soft on defense during an election year

not that I believe that mind you, but someone will be coming in to say it soon enough so i'll get it out of the way!

[Initech]

15. Boy, that Dem majority is working out great isn't it?

:sarcasm:

:argh:

[The Stranger]

17. The Traitor Pelosi also took out restrictions in legislation to prevent the Junta from starting more

wars.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

18. OH MY GOD BURN THE MOTHERFUCKING WITCH RIGHT NOW!!!111!111

TRAITORS! VANDALS!

[The Stranger]

20. Well, I suppose if it comes to that.

If it will prevent additional hundreds of thousands from being murdered for no reason, sure.

:shrug:

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

21. Yes, God damn that warmongering Pelosi.

What fucking planet do you live on? Seriously?

[The Stranger]

22. The same planet Pelosi lives on.

And the same one on which she allows a criminal war criminal cabal to wage war against international law and against the Constitution that she is sworn to uphold.

And the very same one on which she continues to prevent the People from taking the only real measure allowed them to rid themselves, their nation, and this planet of the war-mongering murderers who have taken over.

And on that planet, this traitor Pelosi stands against her own constituents, her own political party, her own ideological allies and, yes, the good people of the world.

And -- yes, that very same planet -- Pelosi continues to stand in favor of the wars, funding ever more and more millions and billions of the People's money -- against their will -- for mass murder for lies that are so countless we have lost track.

Yes, that very same planet, and that very same traitor Pelosi.

That is the planet on which I live.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

23. Get up from behind your fucking keyboard then.

Easy to accuse people of being traitors from the comfort of mom's basement, innit?

[The Stranger]

25. So, aside from your cute little remarks and profanity, you actually seem to agree.

And you do so from behind your own fucking keyboard.

[earth mom]

19. Pelosi is a DINO. Simple as that. nt