Posted on 07/27/2010 4:09:40 PM PDT by jazusamo
Tens of billions in new Afghanistan war funding cleared Congress late Tuesday, even as the House easily upended a liberal challenge to the increased U.S. military presence –and drone attacks—across the border in Pakistan.
The back-to-back votes buy precious time for President Barack Obama to show progress on his strategy in the region. But even as the anti-war movement remains weak in Congress, Obama can’t ignore a growing split among House Democrats over the cost of his military commitments at a time of tighter budgets and economic troubles at home.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Dave Obey (D—Wis.), who had managed the $59 billion war funding bill, voted no in a final protest and helped to take another 101 Democrats with him. A solid majority of the caucus—148 Democrats—still held firm with the president on the 308-114 vote, but the scene was in stark contrast with just a year ago when but all but 32 Democrats supported a still larger $105.9 billion war funding measure for Afghanistan and Iraq operations.
“It is wrong to be borrowing money from China, laying off American police officers to train police officers in Afghanistan,” complained Rep. Jay Inslee (D—Wash.) Citing the release this week of previously secret battlefield reports from the war zone, Rep. Jim McGovern (D—Mass.) said “The same old, same old is simply not working and it’s costing us dearly.”
“This is not just the president’s war. It’s our war too,” McGovern told the House. “We must not simply kick the can down the road and hope for the best.”
With the August recess looming, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D—Md.) was a driving force in engineering the vote, which put a priority on speed and Republican cooperation. “If we don’t get the funding today, we’re not going home, we’re going to stay here until we get this done,” warned Rep. Norman Dicks (D—Wash.), echoing Hoyer. And as if racing ahead of the fallout now from the leaked war reports, the leadership brought the bill to the floor both early in the day and on the suspension calendar, thereby limiting debate and lowering its profile.
Happy birthday to meeee!
Happy birthday to meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Happy birthday, dear meeeeeee-eeeeeeeee!
Happy birthday to meeeee!
Good grief! I’ve outlived, in years, Hitler, Stalin and, in Kerry’s vernacular, Jengis Kahn.
I don’t know what this means....
jazusamo, my apologies for not being on topic and ruining your post.
Happy Birthday SergeantDave!
Well, it just means you must be gettin’ kinda old, much like me. :)
No apologies necessary and it certainly didn’t ruin the post, it was strictly informational.
P.S. Happy Birthday to youuu! :)
Wonder when we find out what pork was included in the bill? All that’s unrelated to defense!
Thanks.
I’ve hit the abuse button on me. Me and Jack Daniels are having a bit of fun.
Okay, I’ll check out now. Best wishes to you and yours...
Jack and I were once pretty good friends and can appreciate the fun. Best to you and yours also. :-)
Thank you for the note. sergeantdave has acquainted himself enough with Mr. Daniels to earn a trip to bed. We’re under assault right now by monsoon rains. If we need to get out of here I hope the refrigerator floats.
Best wishes to you.
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