House Defeatocrats pass cut and run war supplemental
And the Senate Defeatocrats are expected to pass it this week:
WASHINGTON – The Senate is expected to pass a bill today that would order the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq to begin this fall. Last night, the House voted 218-208 to pass the $124.2 billion supplemental spending measure containing the provision.
President Bush is expected to receive the bill next week, and swiftly veto it.
The legislation is the first binding challenge on the war that Democrats have managed to execute since they took control of both houses of Congress in January.
“The sacrifices borne by our troops and their families demand more than the blank checks the president is asking for, for a war without end,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., said.
Democrats said the bill was on track to arrive on the president’s desk on Tuesday, the anniversary of Bush’s announcement aboard the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln that major combat operations in Iraq had ended.
“The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on Sept. 11, 2001, and still goes on,” Bush said on May 1, 2003, in front of a huge “Mission Accomplished” banner.
Bush since has acknowledged that the war campaign has not progressed as he had hoped. After the November elections in which Democrats swept up enough seats to take the majority, Bush announced a new strategy that involved sending additional forces to Iraq.
“Last November, the American people voted for a change in strategy in Iraq — and the president listened,” White House spokesman Dana Perino said in a statement Wednesday. “Tonight, the House of Representatives voted for failure in Iraq — and the president will veto its bill.”
Republicans labeled the timetable a “surrender date.”
“Al-Qaida will view this as the day the House of Representatives threw in the towel,” said Rep. Jerry Lewis (news, bio, voting record) of California, ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Committee.
The huge bill would fund the war, among other things, but demand troop withdrawals begin on Oct. 1 or sooner if the Iraqi government does not meet certain benchmarks. The bill sets a nonbinding goal of completing the troop pullout by April 1, 2008, allowing for forces conducting certain noncombat missions, such as attacking terrorist networks or training Iraqi forces, to remain.
All this, despite a briefing yesterday from Petraeus which talked about what the US military has accomplished since the ‘surge.’ A briefing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ‘couldn’t’ attend.
In the meantime, David Broder is taking some heat from the usual suspects for daring to dis Senator Harry “this war is lost” Reid. As usual, the Nutroots can’t handle a big ol’ bowl of truth when it’s served to ’em.
In any event, the war supplemental is nothing more than a symbolic gesture and a bone that Democrats in the House and Senate are throwing to the moonbats, beause they know the President will veto. And then everything will be back to square one. Let’s not forget that the longer they wait to send a clean bill to the President, the more the lack of adequate funding for our military takes its toll on their ability to fight the enemy.
PM Update: The Senate passed the bill today – although the AP is reporting it as $100 billion, it’s actually $124 billion.