Posted on 12/18/2007 7:09:20 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
By Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate on Tuesday moved toward approving more than $500 billion to keep the government operating through September 2008 and meeting President George W. Bush's demand for new Iraq war funds.
By a vote of 70-25, the Senate attached a Republican amendment adding $40 billion for the war in Iraq to the fiscal 2008 spending bill. The money would not be saddled with any of the conditions Democrats have sought for ending combat, now nearing five years.
"We need to pass this spending bill, with troop funds, without any strings and without any further delay," Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said.
The vote came after the White House issued a statement warning Bush would veto the bill if it didn't have the unrestricted war funding.
When coupled with about $30 billion the House of Representatives approved on Monday in additional funds for Afghanistan, Bush would have a new $70 billion "bridge fund" to wage war in the two countries well into 2008, his final full year in office.
The Senate's assistant Democratic leader, Dick Durbin of Illinois who opposes unconditional Iraq funding, said the latest batch of money could keep the wars running through May or June.
If Congress does provide the $70 billion, it would jack up the overall cost of the two wars to about $670 billion so far.
Bush had asked Congress for an additional $190 billion for the two wars but has indicated he'd settle for less now. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said "we're comfortable" with the $70 billion, as long as the rest is provided later.
Next year, as congressional and presidential elections heat up, Democrats are expected to wage a new battle to tie war funds to troop withdrawal timetables.
The Senate was expected to finish work on the huge budget bill soon, sending it back to the House for a final vote before Congress leaves this week for a three-week vacation.
Before approving the Iraq money, the Senate defeated another in a string of Democratic attempts to shut down the Iraq war.
By another vote of 71-24, Senate rejected a timetable of nine months for withdrawing most of the 158,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, which was sought by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevad 1629512046
"Senators must decide if they want to support the president's disastrous Iraq policy, which has left almost 4,000 Americans dead and almost 30,000 more wounded, and is costing $12 billion per month, or whether they want to focus our attention on fighting al Qaeda around the world," Feingold argued unsuccessfully.
The Senate also defeated an amendment by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, that would have set a non-binding goal of ending combat by the end of 2008 and switching the U.S. mission in Iraq mainly to counter-terrorism operations and training Iraqi forces.
With the added money for the war, the bill would spend nearly $556 billion and pay for all government activities except the Pentagon's regular operations, which already are being funded with steadily increasing budgets, including $460 billion this fiscal year.
Congressional Democrats and Bush have argued all year about domestic spending priorities, with the administration trying to keep war-time budget deficits down by cutting or eliminating many social programs, ranging from health care and medical research to community development, law enforcement and education.
The bill denies many of those plans, instead trimming the growth of military spending slightly and funding some foreign aid programs at lower levels than Bush requested.
(Editing by Lori Santos)
Reid: Al Qaeda Still Winning In Iraq
Harry Reid doesn’t know when to give up, or more precisely, when to give up on giving up. After spending the last several months trying to live down his declaration of America’s defeat in Iraq on the Senate floor, Reid once again gave al-Qaeda a propaganda boost that sounds as if he took it from Ayman al-Zawahiri’s latest video message:
Indeed, Republicans have gotten their way in the battle over spending, have forced Democrats to jettison rollbacks of tax breaks for oil companies, and have beaten back attempts to pay for expanded children’s health care programs with a tobacco tax increase. Even though they’re in the minority, the GOP, backed by President Bush, has used the filibuster to block Democratic priorities over and over this fall.
“Who’s winning?” Reid asked a group of reporters. “Big Oil, Big Tobacco. ... Al Qaeda has regrouped and is able to fight a civil war in Iraq. ... The American people are losing.”
Really? I realize that Reid spends most of his days in denial, but even the media has dropped this meme. The Petraeus surge has driven AQ to the brink of complete disaster in Iraq, so much so that many of them have shifted to Pakistan. The level of violence in Iraq has starkly decreased, avoiding the “civil war” that Reid seems eager to declare.
Remember Hillary’s insult to David Petraeus involving a willful suspension of disbelief? Reid must have a willful suspension of reality.
Captains Quarters
I thought that the Senate were going to add 70 billions dollars in addtion to the 31 billions dollars approved by the House.
.
It was announced tonight on KFI 640AM Los Angeles’ ‘JOHN & KEN’ Radio Show that buried deep inside this mega spending bill is a section reducing our double-tiered Border Fence down a single-tiered one.
Compliments of Texas Senator KAY HUTCHENSON (R).
Following that, Rep. DUNCAN HUNTER (R) of San Diego vowed to re-introduce a Bill to construct that double tiered Border Fence we’re going to lose this night, or in the AM.
.
.
That is awful....think I saw a thread that they were trying to do that.
Orion the Hunter is P.O.d!
Bush
Wins
Again
For
America
Freep this poll: "Do you think a fence should be erected along the US border with Mexico?"
Reid gets Mitchslapped again.
The Democrats Many Failures
Posted by Curt on December 18, 2007 at 6:33 PM
*****************************EXCERPT*********************
Tell me, how well regarded will Pelosi and Reid be by the rank and file Democrats in both houses of Congress at the end of their term? Will they laud them for their many victories?
Oh wait, they don't have any:
After a full year of partisan rancor and insubstantial political votes taken on the House floor, her Congress is crashing on several important deadlines this week as members prepare to leave for Christmas. And Pelosi is about to be owned by the Republican minority.
That’s right: By the end of this week, she will likely have lost five major legislative battles, almost simultaneously.
1) The first and biggest Republican victory comes in the form of the omnibus spending bill, which funds nearly every government agency. Not only does the bill, which was handed down yesterday morning, match President Bush’s funding levels, but it also contains none of the so-called “policy-riders” that Republicans had most feared, such as the abolition of the government’s Mexico City policy and even an expected expansion of union-backed “prevailing wage” rules. Democrats had no choice — they simply ran out of time, mostly because they thought it to their advantage to run down the clock (on this and the issues that follow). The best they seem to have come up with is a cut in abstinence education funding and money for needle exchanges in the District of Columbia. They are even patting themselves on the back for keeping out certain Republican provisions (English in the workplace), as though they were in the minority.
Conservatives have complained loudly (and rightly) that the bill is something of a “Christmas Tree,” containing more than 9,000 earmarked pork projects and $11 billion in so-called “emergency funding” (actually a widely used accounting gimmick to make the final number appear closer to the president’s request). The bill has other defects as well, yet Republicans are amazed at what they have gotten. They can’t believe it, and they are making heroic (if unsuccessful) efforts not to crow too loudly before it passes. This summer, Republicans could not have imagined negotiating Democrats down to this funding level — $933 billion in regular discretionary spending, right at the level of President Bush’s request.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=iraq
Senate OKs $70B for iraq, Afghanistan
[Democrats failed to win votes to force removal of U.S. troops]
Yahoo
Posted on 12/18/2007 9:15:37 PM EST by Sub-Driver
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1941500/posts
Congress authorizes war funds and sends bill to Bush
reuters | 12/14/07 | Susan Cornwell
Posted on 12/14/2007 8:44:48 PM EST by mdittmar
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1939717/posts
Dems to Back Down on War Money
sfgate.com | December 8, 2007 | Anne Flaherty
Posted on 12/08/2007 4:26:44 PM EST by Bubba_Leroy
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1936739/posts
Pelosi Says She Miscalculated GOP Determination on Iraq
Congressional Quarterly | Dec. 13, 2007
Posted on 12/18/2007 12:32:04 PM EST by george76
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1941264/posts
The War is twice as popular as Congress
Daily Mail Blog | Don Surber
Posted on 12/08/2007 10:42:22 PM EST by Coleus
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1936819/posts
Murtha admits positives in Iraq, will others?
The Grand Island Independent | December 8, 2007 | Brian Bresnahan
Posted on 12/08/2007 9:35:27 PM EST by 2ndDivisionVet
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1936802/posts
Army chief says troops strained, calls pace ‘unsustainable’
Gov Exec.com | Dec 5, 2007 | National Journal’s CongressDailyAM
Posted on 12/05/2007 9:49:41 AM EST by RDTF
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1935006/posts
[snip] Gen. George Casey said the fight between Congress and the White House over the supplemental funding for Iraq and Afghanistan makes his job more difficult and sends “a terrible signal” to the troops fighting the war... Noting the additional $17 billion in Army funding that Congress provided last year to improve readiness, Casey said: “Getting the resources to reset the force is the difference between a hollow force and a force that’s ready to do the next thing.” ...Casey stated the obvious that “not having predictable, timely funding makes it harder for me to do my job.” And, he added, “What’s going on now sends a terrible signal to my soldiers and their families.” [end]
Cheney confident on Iraq future
The Politico | December 5, 2007 | Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei and John F. Harris
Posted on 12/05/2007 8:14:20 PM EST by jazusamo
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1935380/posts
[snip] Most striking were his virtually taunting remarks of two men he described as friends from his own days in the House: Democratic Reps. John Dingell (Mich.) and John P. Murtha (Pa.). In a 40-minute interview with Politico, he scoffed at the idea of two men who spent years accruing power showing so much deference to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in the big spending and energy debates of the year. Murtha “and the other senior leaders ... march to the tune of Nancy Pelosi to an extent I had not seen, frankly, with any previous speaker,” Cheney said... Throughout the interview, Cheney was dismissive of virtually everything Democrats are trying to do in Congress — “that probably wouldn’t surprise anybody” — on the war, spending and anti-terrorism policies. “They’ve produced absolutely nothing that I can see that’s of benefit or consistent with the promises that they made when they went out and ran for election,” Cheney said. [end]
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
The Senate on Tuesday moved toward approving more than $500 billion to keep the government operating through September 2008 and meeting President George W. Bush's demand for new Iraq war funds.The Senate should just shave its legs, put on high heels, a dress, and lipstick, and dance provocatively, 'cause it's just the "Lame Duck" President's beeotch. :'D
I like the way you do that....any automated tools there?
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
<blockquote><i></i></blockquote>...for example. :')
:’D
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