House Passes Micromanaging Iraq Bill
Speaker Pelosi got her Bush-bashing victory. The House passed the Iraq emergency funding bill loaded with pork and military micromanaging designed to drive the U.S. out of Iraq faster than al Qaeda with a dozen tactical nukes:
President Bush slammed Democrats on Friday after the House narrowly approved a supplemental war spending bill that includes an August 31, 2008, deadline for combat troops to leave Iraq.
“Today, a narrow majority in the House of Representatives abdicated its responsibility by passing a war spending bill that has no chance of becoming law, and brings us no closer to getting our troops the resources they need,” Bush said about an hour after the vote.
The House voted 218-212 to approve the $124 billion spending bill that includes the deadline.
Bush said the vote had only one outcome: “It delays the delivery of vital resources for our troops.”
For a party that says they “support the troops” passing this bill brings closer a financial crisis:
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Robert Gates called for Congress to pass a bill quickly, or the military would be forced to take severe stopgap measures because of a lack of funding.
Among those measures, Gates said, would be slowing deployment of replacement troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and extending the tours of units already there.
“This kind of disruption to key programs will have a genuinely adverse effect on the readiness of the Army and the quality of life for soldiers and their families,” Gates said. “I urge the Congress to pass the supplemental as soon as possible.”
If Democrats want the war over be as tough as Rep. Dennis Kucinich. Vote to defund it, force President Bush to bring the troops home, and accept responsibility for the resultant chaos in the Middle East.
“House Passes Spending Bill with Iraq Deadline” [via QandO]
The list of pork projects attached to this bill is extensive. A lot of votes were bought. Disgraceful.