Bush accepts Republican House resolution on Iraq

[Poiuyt]

President George W. Bush met privately with House Republicans on Friday and agreed to an alternative resolution to set "benchmarks" for progress in his plan to send more troops to Iraq, party officials said.

Conferring with lawmakers from his party, which lost control of the House of Representatives last November, Bush was confronted with their plan to hold him accountable for the revised strategy, which has been widely criticized by Democrats and some Republicans.

"He deferred to the leadership," Rep. Eric Cantor (news, bio, voting record) of Virginia said after a closed-door, question-and-answer session with Bush, who has denounced other congressional efforts to oppose his plan to send 21,500 more troops into Iraq.

"He said, 'I have faith in the leaders to craft a proposal, because I know in their hearts they want this country to succeed,"' said Cantor, House Republican chief deputy whip.

more -

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070126/pl_nm/usa_congress_republicans_dc

Why do I have trouble believing that Bush would accept advice from anyone in Congress?

[damntexdem]

1. He wouldn't. But he is willing to act like he is in order to obfuscate.

But it's the Congressional majority that COULD hold his feet to the fire, if only they would. Perhaps they will.

[atommom]

2. Is this the same proposal the Blue Dogs agreed to?

If so, Pelosi must be steaming.

[Karenca]

3. The article states that Pelosi is against this proposal. nt

[atommom]

4. I know she is, but the Blue Dog Dems supported a resolution

demanding more fiscal accountability in funding the war. There's nothing wrong with fiscal accountability, but I think speaking out against the war itself is more appropriate right now.

The resolution they're referring to here appears to be different.

WASHINGTON D.C.- Members of the fiscally conservative, Democratic Blue Dog Coalition demanded greater accountability and responsibility regarding the war in Iraq at a press conference in the U.S. Capitol Friday.



The Blue Dog Coalition announced its plan to introduce a resolution calling for increased fiscal accountability in funding the Iraq war. The resolution focuses on four crucial points for demanding fiscal responsibility in Iraq. The points are: a call for transparency on how Iraq war funds are spent; the creation of a Truman Commission to investigate the awarding of contracts; a need to fund the Iraq war through the normal appropriations process and not through "emergency" supplementals; and using American resources to improve Iraqi assumption of internal policing operations.



"The legislation we are introducing today addresses the glaring lack of oversight and accountability in Iraq and addresses how taxpayer dollars are spent on the war," said Rep. Patrick Murphy. "It is long past time we kept track of the money we spend in Iraq and replace waste, fraud and abuse with oversight, responsibility and accountability. This resolution puts forward tangible, commonsense proposals that ensure more resources get to the troops in the field. These are measures everyone can agree on, regardless of political party."



"Had requests for funds for the Iraq war been on-budget, Congress would have learned far earlier what was going wrong. Budgeting by supplemental prevents Congress from doing our job and misleads the public about the true trade-offs," Rep. Jane Harman said.

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/speech/ar04_ross/morenews/011907iraq.html

[hashibabba]

5. So he agreed with House Republicans? Big Deal. Where was

the MAJORITY party while all this was going on? He didn't *defer to the leadership*--the Republicons are not the leadership.

[MzNov]

6. How appropriate for him to meet with "leadership" when Nancy

is in Iraq. I've never heard of this protocol. But then again, what would he know about that.

Yet another show and scam.