Wow! Dems just passed an amendment to the 87 billion.

10 billion grant to Iraq and 10 billion loan. The loan will be made a grant IF 90% of Iraqi debt is forgiven. Yeah, that'll happen. 8 Republicans broke rank.

hehehehe....

Now Mr. "I don't have to explain anything to you" will have to either veto it or choke on it....

Don't know how long that'll take.

A bunch of us were watching earlier in the day. Did they just finally wear them down? They were knocking down the Dem amendments one after the other. It was so disheartening. But this is good news!

Yes about time this happened...

(Ok I listen to C-SPAN so I have been seeing the fights) but now
this will get there folks

Some Dems must have voted no, some Reps must have voted yes, right?

a note on the screen. I believe it said that either 6 or 8 Rs voted for it. I hope someone can clarify it.

stupid process.

Way to go!

A wrench has been thrown into the wheel.

Did some teeth just grow back in the Senate?

Did someone read the constitution and see that they have a role and that their job is to check the imperial impulses of presidents who think they have become emporer?

Is this due to an equinox or something?

Damn i hope they keep this shit up. We might have a chance to reign in the maniacs if they'll just do their damn job.


:bounce:

:bounce:

I think THAT'S the big story here.

But our Dems done good -- it's been a very long day there, and it's still not over.

Right now, I'm very proud of our Senators. :)

They'll need some thanks and good wishes and all that..

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absent: Byrd & Lieberman

NO: Byden, Miller, Ineui (sp?) and Cantwell

YES repubs: didn't catch them all, but the odd enough Chambliss (GA) was on it.

He swings both ways.

Or co-signs?

Does the Iraqi Governing Council sign for the loan? What's the collateral?

OK. I'm skeptical. I hope this isn't just a shell game to provide cover for Republicans with moderate or paleocon constituents.

No answer.

so they'll have to hash it out on committee. My prediction: a token loan, say, 3-4 billion to give everyone political cover. The deciding factor will be, ironically, western and southern repukes. They have to deal with the why-are-we-givin'-them-thar-camel-jockeys-all-that-money problem.

According to a report released yesterday by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). I got this in a late afternoon special issue of MoveOn.org's Daily MisLead e-mail alert:

SPECIAL AFTERNOON MIS-LEAD: Additional Money for Iraq Not Needed Until Spring, According to New Study

As Congress is preparing to vote on the administration's emergency $87 billion request, a new study is challenging the immediate need for the funding.

Defense Secretary Rumsfeld asserted two weeks ago that "the funds the president requested are vital to our success in the global war on terror and to our ability to finish the job in Iraq."1 But that position is being undermined by a Congressional Research Service (CRS) study that has found that Iraq military operations have sufficient funds until May of next year.

The CRS study released yesterday suggests that the recently-passed $368.2 billion 2004 Defense funding bill plus the emergency funding Congress passed at the start of the war provides the Army alone with $37 billion in funding for personnel and operations and maintenance, enough to fund operations through early May.2

more: http://www.misleader.org/daily_mislead/Read.asp?fn=df10162003.html

Link to the CRS report - and btw, the link is from MoveOn.org and it links to the report (pdf format) through Jan Schakowsky's house site:

http://www.house.gov/schakowsky/04-Supp-availability_of_Army_funds-memo-15Oct03.pdf