April 26, 2007
Senate OKs Iraq Timeline Bill
A controversial war spending supplemental bill made it through the Senate this afternoon, but without enough votes to survive a promised veto from President Bush.
Bush himself urged the Senate to quickly pass the bill, in order to shorten the time it would take for him to veto it and for Congress to pass new, desperately needed funding for the military without the timeline or pullout strings attached.
The White House has accused congressional Democrats of wasting time in an endeavor to make a political point. In a press conference this afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid countered, "A veto means denying our troops the resources and strategy they need."
Bush has hardly ever reached for his veto pen, largely because the previous, Republican-led Congress rarely defied him. Should the $124 billion spending bill be vetoed, it would be the second time Bush has bucked both the Congress and the American public on a flashpoint issue -- previously, on embryonic stem cell research, this time on troop withdrawal.
While this months-long tug of war between the White House and lawmakers who want to set boundaries on the conflict in Iraq may be tiring to some bystanders, it has the makings of a historic showdown. The points of contention are mainly philosophical. Who is obstructing progress in Iraq -- the side that claims to be carrying out the wishes of the American public, or the side that says lawmakers in Washington have no business telling the military how to run a war?
Bush and his backers are lashing out at congressional Democrats for declaring the war unwinnable, but must also be careful not to insult large swaths of the public while doing so. Democrats contend that they are doing what voters hired them to do in November, all while the armed forces face supply and personnel shortages (subscription) without replenished funding.
A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll [PDF] shows Americans back congressional Democrats in this fight, 56 percent to 37 percent. The bill the Senate passed today would require American troops to begin rotating out Oct. 1 at the latest.
--JANE ROH
