cutthemdown
12-18-2007, 11:27 PM
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/18/budget.battle/index.html
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A pair of Democratic efforts to tie passage of a far-reaching budget plan with an end to the war in Iraq failed Tuesday. The most strongly worded amendment to the spending bill, by Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, called for the military to begin pulling troops out of Iraq within 90 days and complete the withdrawal in nine months.
The effort failed, 24-71. It needed 60 votes to be added as part of the budget bill.
A second amendment, by Democratic Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, would have established a nonbinding timetable to have U.S. troops out of Iraq in one year. That plan failed on a 50-45 vote.
Arguing in favor of the Feingold plan, Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts became emotional as he called the Bush administration's efforts in Iraq "a continuing quagmire."
"The best way to end this charade and protect our troops and our national security is to put the Iraqis on notice that they need to take responsibility for their future," Kennedy said. "Unless there's a binding timeline for the redeployment of our troops, the Iraqis will not feel the need to make the compromises essential for a political solution." But Republican Sen. John McCain, who returned Tuesday to Washington from New Hampshire, where he was campaigning for his party's nomination for president, blasted the Democrat-controlled House.
"For Congress to fail to provide the funds needed by our soldiers in the field is inexcusable under any circumstances," said McCain, of Arizona. "But it is especially disappointing right now, at the very moment when Gen. David Petraeus and his troops are achieving the kind of progress in Iraq that many dismissed as impossible just a few months ago."
On Monday, the House passed a $516 billion spending plan with no money for Iraq.
The spending measure funds troops in Afghanistan and 14 Cabinet agencies. President Bush appears likely to sign it if his GOP allies can add up to $40 billion for the war in Iraq.
The 1,482-page bill has almost 9,000 pet projects sought by lawmakers.
According to The Associated Press, Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington-based watchdog group that opposes so-called pork barrel projects, counted 8,983 such "earmarks" worth $7.4 billion. These hometown pet projects include economic development grants, aid to local transit and police departments, and clean water projects, among many others.
"I do think the president has a victory here," House Minority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Missouri, told reporters Tuesday.
However, Blunt said, "It's important to measure the quality of that victory. Claiming credit for what he achieved without assuming ownership of the bad things that people are going to find in this spending bill is a fairly narrow line to walk."
In comments Monday, Bush said, "we're making some pretty good progress toward coming up with a fiscally sound budget.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A pair of Democratic efforts to tie passage of a far-reaching budget plan with an end to the war in Iraq failed Tuesday. The most strongly worded amendment to the spending bill, by Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, called for the military to begin pulling troops out of Iraq within 90 days and complete the withdrawal in nine months.
The effort failed, 24-71. It needed 60 votes to be added as part of the budget bill.
A second amendment, by Democratic Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, would have established a nonbinding timetable to have U.S. troops out of Iraq in one year. That plan failed on a 50-45 vote.
Arguing in favor of the Feingold plan, Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts became emotional as he called the Bush administration's efforts in Iraq "a continuing quagmire."
"The best way to end this charade and protect our troops and our national security is to put the Iraqis on notice that they need to take responsibility for their future," Kennedy said. "Unless there's a binding timeline for the redeployment of our troops, the Iraqis will not feel the need to make the compromises essential for a political solution." But Republican Sen. John McCain, who returned Tuesday to Washington from New Hampshire, where he was campaigning for his party's nomination for president, blasted the Democrat-controlled House.
"For Congress to fail to provide the funds needed by our soldiers in the field is inexcusable under any circumstances," said McCain, of Arizona. "But it is especially disappointing right now, at the very moment when Gen. David Petraeus and his troops are achieving the kind of progress in Iraq that many dismissed as impossible just a few months ago."
On Monday, the House passed a $516 billion spending plan with no money for Iraq.
The spending measure funds troops in Afghanistan and 14 Cabinet agencies. President Bush appears likely to sign it if his GOP allies can add up to $40 billion for the war in Iraq.
The 1,482-page bill has almost 9,000 pet projects sought by lawmakers.
According to The Associated Press, Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington-based watchdog group that opposes so-called pork barrel projects, counted 8,983 such "earmarks" worth $7.4 billion. These hometown pet projects include economic development grants, aid to local transit and police departments, and clean water projects, among many others.
"I do think the president has a victory here," House Minority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Missouri, told reporters Tuesday.
However, Blunt said, "It's important to measure the quality of that victory. Claiming credit for what he achieved without assuming ownership of the bad things that people are going to find in this spending bill is a fairly narrow line to walk."
In comments Monday, Bush said, "we're making some pretty good progress toward coming up with a fiscally sound budget.