Congress puts its marker on Iraq war, but how big?
The Senate, following the House's vote Friday, is to weigh a war-funding bill – with exit dates.
from the March 26, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
In an amendment to be voted on Tuesday, Republicans aim to strip language setting troop-withdrawal timetables from the bill. A similar proposal failed earlier this month by a 48-to-52 vote. Democrats, for their part, say their improved version of an exit timetable will fare better this week.
"The legislation contains critical improvements from the Iraq resolution recently considered by the Senate. Unlike that resolution, the supplemental legislation includes a series of benchmarks for the Iraqis to meet and also the inclusion of regular progress reports to Congress from the US commander in Iraq," Sen. Robert Byrd (D) of West Virginia said in a statement, before his Appropriations Committee cleared the funding bill for floor action.
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Sen. Ben Nelson (D) of Nebraska, a key swing vote, says he favors the benchmarks but still opposes an exit date for US forces from Iraq. On Friday, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I) of Connecticut said he expects one or two more Democrats to oppose an exit timetable.
Senate Republicans also plan to try to strip nondefense-related expenditures from the bill. Sen. Tom Coburn (R) of Oklahoma, an earmark opponent, says he will offer amendments to strip nondefense-related projects from the bill, starting with the $100 million added to beef up security at the 2008 presidential conventions. He will challenge Democrats to show "why we should borrow from our grandchildren to have a party," especially on a bill to provide emergency funding for a war.
Democrats acknowledge that they do not have the two-thirds vote needed in both the House and Senate to override a presidential veto. Still, the vote sets a high-water mark for the assertion of congressional powers since Bush ordered US forces into Iraq four years ago this month.
"It's largely a symbolic vote," says Norman Ornstein, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. "But the fact that the House, even by a narrow margin, accepted the concept of a date certain [for a pullout of US combat troops] means something. It will have an effect on the structure of public debate."
The wild card, over the next few weeks, is public opinion.
Facing the risk of depriving US forces of funding in wartime, the White House is counting on Congress to back down and pass a bill by April 15 that has no exit timetables and no nondefense add-ons.
But Democrats say public opinion may swing further in their direction, even in the event of a veto and a showdown on war funding.
"It's public opinion that determines the outcome," says Rep. Barney Frank (D) of Massachusetts. "People are very antiwar, and the greatest naiveté is too much cynicism, as when people say the public has nothing to do with this."
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