The U.S. Senate on Tuesday endorsed a March 31, 2008,
target date for withdrawing American combat troops from Iraq, moving
Congress a step closer to a showdown with President George W. Bush over
the war.By a vote of 50-48, the Senate defeated an amendment that would
have stricken the withdrawal language from a $121.6 billion bill that
mostly would fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A final vote on the
bill is expected later this week.
I believe the amendment would’ve also stricken the pork from the bill - I’ll have to double check that, though.
Senator Lieberman and Senator Pryor
voted for the amendment. While I disagree with him on other subjects,
both deserve our thanks (click the links) for giving our soldiers
priority over politics. Republican Senators Gordon Smith and Chuck Hagel could learn a lesson from them (both voted for defeat). Since Senator Ben Nelson
survived his reelection bid, he also voted for defeat (hey, he got his
6 years). Please note: Senator Enzi (WY) was unable to vote because he
was attending to a sick family member.
Click here for the list of votes (see how your Senators did).
Now, don’t get too angry. Even if the Victory Senators had
succeeded, while sending a much better message, the bill would’ve gone
to the Conference Committee (where the select House and Senate members
hash out a compromise on changed bills), the Democrat-dominated
committee (they’re in the majority) would have, assuredly, stuck the
language back in. The only result would have been a longer delay prior
to President Bush’s veto, which would also further delay getting
necessary funding to our military in the combat zone. Note: funding runs out on April 15th!
This allows the President to issue a veto and have Congress actually get our troops funding without the pork and defeatist barf.
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