Posted on 05/18/2007 9:06:32 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - Democratic congressional leaders on Friday offered the first concessions in a fight with President Bush over a spending bill for Iraq, but the White House turned them down.
The Democrats, in a meeting with Bush's top aides on Capitol Hill, said they would strip from a war spending bill billions of dollars in domestic spending that the White House had opposed. They also pledged to give Bush authority to waive compliance with a timetable to pull combat troops out of Iraq.
But no agreement emerged.
"To say I was disappointed in the meeting is an understatement," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record), D-Nev.
At stake is the more than $90 billion the president says is needed to cover the costs of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan through September. The Democratic-controlled Congress on May 1 sent Bush a bill that would have funded the war but also would have demanded that troops start coming home Oct. 1.
Bush swiftly rejected that bill. Unable to override his veto, Democrats have been trying to find a way to pass a new bill by Memorial Day that funds the troops but still challenges Bush's Iraq policy.
Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record) emerged from a closed-door meeting with White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten to say they had offered the concessions to no avail.
Bush has said he is open to setting standards for the Iraqi government to meet, but has not said whether he would accept consequences if Baghdad fails.
"It is clear that the difference between the president and Democrats is accountability," said Pelosi, D-Calif.
Pelosi said negotiations with the White House were not dead, but she and Reid made it clear they would proceed this weekend on their own in drafting a new bill they could be widely supported in Congress. The leaders said the plan remained to send Bush a bill by the Memorial Day recess.
"Our troops will be funded," the House speaker said.
Also attending the meeting on Capitol Hill was Stephen Hadley, the president's national security adviser, and Rob Portman, the White House budget director, as well as Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (news, bio, voting record), R-Ky., and Reps. Jerry Lewis (news, bio, voting record) and David Obey (news, bio, voting record). Lewis, R-Calif., is the top Republican on the House Appropriations Committee and Obey, D-Wis., is chairman.
Just attach that stupid idea of making all the illegals legal to the funding bill and Jorge Bush will sign it.
Democratic congressional leaders on Friday offered the first concessions in a fight with President Bush over a spending bill for Iraq, but the White House turned them down.
The Democrats, in a meeting with Bush’s top aides on Capitol Hill, said they would strip from a war spending bill billions of dollars in domestic spending that the White House had opposed. They also pledged to give Bush authority to waive compliance with a timetable to pull combat troops out of Iraq.
But no agreement emerged.
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Everyone is busy “working” on COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION “REFORM”. The summer games are on in DC..
We need to monitor what the dems do now that they think everyone's attention is on immigration. Reid will slip some dirty trick past the Republicans if they aren't careful.
What no one seems to remember is that it was the Democrats that started all this immigration mess when Nevada and New Mexico's Governors declared emergencies. They did it with the intention to drive a wedge between Bush and his base (us). It worked.
I am convinced there was a deal Immigration for Iraq. The Dems will give a clean funding bill for Iraq in return for Amnesty.
So, Bush gets two for one? I am of the opinion that if he is looking for legacy, immigration will be worse for his legacy than Iraq.
But they are not the majority. They couldn't even get 30 senators to cut off funding.
Uh, if Pelousy really said this, doesn't that indicate Bush has this one in the bag? I mean look: Pelouse says "the troops will get their $". That's on record now, and all the Prez needs to do is Sat-link Petraeus into the chamber daily to yell "WHERE'S MY MONEY YOU PROMISED ME???". Seriously though, doesn't this tell you that the Prez can veto anything that's not simply $ for the war, knowing the Rats HAVE to now come back with $ ?
I know: I'm an optimist.
—So, Bush gets two for one? I am of the opinion that if he is looking for legacy, immigration will be worse for his legacy than Iraq.—
Perhaps the real legacy will be EMIGRATION (from the U.S. / North American Union to places with lower taxes, like Poland).
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