Truthout: Blank Check for Afghanistan Passes, Iraq Funds to Come

Blank Check for Afghanistan Passes, Iraq Funds to Come
By Maya Schenwar
t r u t h o u t | Report

Tuesday 18 December 2007

Under a cloud of frustration, the House of Representatives passed an omnibus spending bill on Monday night that contains $31 billion for the war in Afghanistan, with the expectation Iraq war funding will be added in the Senate. Additionally, the bill submits to most of the president's requests on domestic spending.

Unlike the $50 billion Democratic war funding bill proposed in November, which was defeated in the Senate, the new bill contains no provisions for a troop withdrawal.

A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the bill is expected to pass the Senate by Tuesday night. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said last week he would amend the bill to raise war funding - for both Iraq and Afghanistan - to $70 billion once the omnibus bill reached the Senate floor. Reports last week indicated that leading Democrats in the Senate would concede to increases in Iraq funding.

Reid's spokesman declined to comment on Iraq funds in the final bill.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey made no secret of the omnibus bill's shortcomings when he unveiled it on Sunday, declaring that Democrats must wait for a new administration to take office before many of its priorities can be accomplished.

"We have arrived at this point because the White House and their allies in the Senate have refused to respond to the American people's cry for change in the last election," he said in a statement released on Sunday. "America needs a President who will not have as his only priority asking Congress for more and more money in Iraq at the expense of our society here at home."

In Obey's closing statement on the floor Monday night, he called his bill's domestic appropriations "totally inadequate," especially considering the size of the president's suggested war budget, but emphasized drastic cuts were necessary in order to ensure passage. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121807J.shtml

Spineless weasels! Now they're either playing deniability games or the House leadership is circumventing constituent pressure on the members by making a deal to add Iraq funding later, in the Senate-- then the House will no doubt have a quite vote on the compromise bill later after all the dust has settled. This is shameful. This Congress is no better than the republican controlled congress it replaced.

Funding illegal war of aggression is a war crime.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2417340&mesg_id=2417536

I hate it when I'm right.