House votes on war-spending bill
Posted: Thursday, May 15, 2008 3:11 PM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
Congress, 2008
From NBC's Mike Viqueira
The House has debated and is now voting on another war-spending bill that would give the president all he wants, and them some, for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But the bill would also set a goal of removing all troops from combat operations within 18 months. That, of course, has been and remains a non-starter with House Republicans and the president.
A third portion of the bill would fund the new GI Bill and extend unemployment benefits. Republican leadership opposes putting these measures on a war-funding bill.
Under the tortured procedures put forward by Democratic leaders for the bill , each of these provisions will get a separate vote. It will be interesting to see, in the wake of GOP electoral losses and subsequent recriminations, how many Republicans jump ship on the third portion of the bill and vote with Democrats.
Liberals in the House, including the speaker, are expected to vote against the war funding and for the withdrawal goal. Vice versa for conservative. Yet at the end of the day all three sections are expected to pass this afternoon.
The bill allocates an extra $66 billion to cover expenses into the first several months of a new administration. Doing it this way means that first, Democrats won't have to deal with it again before the elections. Second, it would give the new president a few months to develop and implement a new policy, one they hope will include a redeployment.
The Senate has a similar bill in committee today. Final congressional passage of a war-spending bill is now looking like it will occur after the Memorial Day recess (May 23 to June 3). Democratic leaders say that despite administration warnings to the contrary, the Pentagon has all the money it needs to keep operations going into July.
*** UPDATE *** Turmoil in the House now as conservatives upset about the process have voted down war funding.
Democrats had brought this measure to the floor after bypassing the committee process and under rules that shut republicans out of the opportunity to offer amendments.
Republicans have raised hell all day, and to register their displeasure they decided to vote "present". That, coupled with liberal votes against the funding (around $165 billlion to last into next year), they have taken the risky step of killing war funding.
When the gavel came down Democrats in the chamber cheered, "No More War!" But it isn't likely to work out that way, because in the end it's hard to see how Democrats will not be compelled to put something forward that funds the troops, for all of the same reasons that they have been forced to do so for the last 18 months since taking over.
