House Votes Down War Funding

united for Peace website ^ | May 15, 2008 | United for Peace

[Brandonmark]

In an amazing turn of events, the House of Representatives today voted AGAINST the supplemental funding for the war in Iraq!! The bill would have provided $166 billion in war funding, the largest single provision since the war started in 2003. In a move that no one expected, dozens of Republicans voted "present," which is the same as abstaining on the vote.

[SolidWood]

What UnitedforSurrender misses to mention is that the Bill contained pro-illegal pork and a date for withdrawal. Bush threatened to veto this bill. The 132 Republicans rightly abstained from voting, because this was a bad bill, but didn’t vote “no”, because it would have been a Democrat propaganda victory. The Democrats that voted against this bill are those who pander to the moonbats, while those who voted yes are the weasels who fund the war, but want a date for surrender.

We need a clean bill.

[Brandonmark]

Thanks for the perspective...the peaceniks are crowing about this being a victory for their side.

[Dawnsblood]

The House GOP leader explains it this way:

That legislative legerdemain became the plan's undoing. Rather than go along, 131 House Republicans voted "present" on the war funding provision, saying they were incensed that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and a few of her lieutenants had drafted the bill in secret, then expected them to play along.

"It was a political scheme. We wanted to expose it, and we did," declared House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio).

[berdie]

later

[TheBattman]

From: Roy Beck, President, NumbersUSA
Date: Thursday 15MAY08 4:30 p.m. EDT

Senate committee adds amnesty for 1.2 million illegal ag workers to Iraq spending bill — PHONE NOW

DEAR FRIENDS,

On a 17-12 vote this afternoon, the Senate Appropriations Committee added Sen. Feinstein’s ag amnesty to the Iraq supplemental spending bill.

This bill could come up for a vote before the full Senate tomorrow.

Every phone of every Senator should be ringing off the hook as soon as I click SEND on this alert.

Please pick up your phone the minute you read this and call:
202-224-3121

Call the offices of both of your state’s U.S. Senators and tell them:

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday afternoon committed an outrageous act of disrespect for our men and women in uniform and to the citizens of this country by attaching an illegal-alien amnesty to the Iraq spending bill.

Urge the Senator to vote and work to strip the amnesty from the Iraq spending bill on the floor.

You - or the Senator - may already oppose this spending bill. But if the Senator is inclined to vote YES on the Iraq bill, ask the Senator to definitely vote NO and send it back to committee if the amnesty is NOT stripped.

There is no need for an amnesty to provide growers with workers. There already is an H-2A foreign ag worker program that provides growers with an unlimited number of temporary workers if the growers agree to pay a decent wage and ensure that they go home at the end of the season. Feinstein is just trying to protect the abysmally low wages and bad working conditions that farmworkers labor under.

Here are additional talking points (and the names of your two Senators, plus additional phone numbers):

http://www.numbersusa.com/phones?ID=10121

Expect that many staffers will either have no idea what is going on or will be lying to you. Some of you were reporting to us that Sen. Feinstein’s staffers were telling you that she had no intention of attaching an amnesty this afternoon at the precise time that the committee was voting on her proposal to attach!!!!!

Unless Senators see an outpouring of disgust and outrage similar to what you waged a year ago, they will interpret it to be safe to vote an amnesty this year.

Besides an estimated 1.2 million illegal alien ag workers, all the millions of illegal aliens in their families would apparently get an amnesty, also.

Good luck. You are the only force that stands between some semblance of the rule of law and massive rewards for illegal immigration.

THANKS,

P.S. We will be constantly adding new information as we obtain it on our home page at: www.NumbersUSA.com A lot of details are still fuzzy right now. Please keep checking back to our home page.

P.S.S. Just as I was starting to click the SEND button, this report arrived from The Hill news service:

The so-called Ag-Jobs amendment, sponsored by Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Larry Craig (R-Idaho), would create a process that allows undocumented workers to continue to work on farms. Without the amendment, Feinstein warned that the U.S. would lose $5-9 billion to foreign competition, tens of thousands of farms would shut down and 80,000 workers would be transferred to Mexico.

The bill would sunset in five years.

NOTE FROM ROY: Open-borders supporters believe that if they can just help illegal aliens sink roots for a few more years that it will be impossible for the government later to try to make them leave.

My staff is just now reading through Feinstein’s language and tell me that it looks like she will give all illegals the chance to adjust to permanent status and path to citizenship at the end of the five years.

“Agriculture needs a consistent workforce,” Feinstein said. “Without it, they can’t plant, they can’t prune, they can’t pick and they can’t pack.

“This is an emergency situation,” she added.

The amendment was approved by a 17-12 vote with defections from both parties. Critics say the amendment amounts to amnesty for people who entered the country illegally. A broader comprehensive immigration overhaul, with a path for citizenship for the nation’s estimated 12 million illegal immigrants, failed in a divisive Senate vote last year.

“No matter how one characterizes it, this enormous amendment still amounts to amnesty,” said Chairman Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.). “I oppose amnesty. All these immigration issues should be addressed through the regular order.”

P.S. We can triple our membership quickly if our members email their friends about us and they in turn email theirs. Polls show that most Americans agree with NumbersUSA’s positions but, despite our recent rapid growth, most American voters still have never heard of us. You can help change that by forwarding this email widely. (Note: depending on your email provider, you may need to send this as an “attachment.”)
This may be a good time for you to make sure that you’ve let us know all of the areas you are interested in. In order to further customize the type of alerts you receive click here http://www.numbersusa.com/survey?action=longlist

As a NumbersUSA subscriber, you will receive occasional emails about immigration-related opportunities. If you want to increase or reduce the frequency of these emails, click here and choose from Total Activism, Moderate Activism, or Limited Activism at the bottom of your registration form: http://www.numbersusa.com/user

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[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

The 132 Republicans rightly abstained from voting, because this was a bad bill, but didn’t vote “no”, because it would have been a Democrat propaganda victory. The Democrats that voted against this bill are those who pander to the moonbats, while those who voted yes are the weasels who fund the war, but want a date for surrender. We need a clean bill.

BUMP for great analysis.

[calcowgirl]

Bump!

[spyone]

Pelosi is dispicable...playing politics with our soldiers. For shame!

[El Gato]

We need a clean bill.

The House, and the Congress, is under DemonRat leadership. Want *we* want isn't worth a bucket of warm p*$$.

We won't get a clean bill.

[freema]

Great analysis indeed, thank you for the ping.

walter b jones, East Coast Marine Representative, voting with john murtha.

[SolidWood]

Since the rats conquered the House they have tried to spoil the war funding bill with pork and surrender-dates EVERY time.
It was always stopped by Senate or vetoed by the President.
Most Dem Congressmen and Senators know they can’t politically survive a refusal to fund the war altogether, so they had to give the President a clean bill (meaning less pork and no surrender-dates) every instance.
The difference this time is merely that some House rats finally had to cater to their moonbat voters who want to defund the war altogether. The Senate and the House rats who voted yes know that they have to send a different bill this time aswell.

[ExGeeEye]

The House, and the Congress, is under DemonRat leadership.

Elections Matter.

[jmaroneps37]

The rat is after all a decidedly loathsome creature.

[roaddog727]

Thanks for the perspective.

Makes perfect sense now.

[Marysecretary]

Indeed. I appreciate you posting this because we wouldn’t hear it on the MSM. I cannot stand this Congress. Liberals and RINOs are ruining this great nation. Time to stop putting pork in bills that have nothing to do with anything else but the subject of the bill, i.e., war funding. Cheez.

[Marine_Uncle]

The complete abuse of power shall continue.