Vitter Opposes Attaching Counterproductive Conditions to Troop Funding

Press Release

Vitter Opposes Attaching Counterproductive Conditions to Troop Funding
Bill Provisions Would Reverse Recent Progress

U.S. Sen. David Vitter today stated his opposition to the Democratic Leadership's legislation to temporarily fund our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan with strings attached - namely, a mandate to withdraw troops on a rigid timeline. The bill recently passed the U.S. House of Representatives and is currently being debated in the U.S. Senate.

"I'm completely against this attempt to put our brave men and women in the field in the middle of this partisan fight. And I'm completely against letting the armchair generals here in Congress run the war versus the real generals in the field.

"I call on Congress to fund the troops immediately with a clean supplemental bill," said Vitter. "We certainly shouldn't be taking any action like that proposed that would actually reverse the enormous gains we've made in the last six months."

Vitter visited with Gen. David Petraeus and U.S Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker in Baghdad in August. He also heard testimony from both Petraeus and Crocker in the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, of which he is a member. Yesterday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates presented a classified briefing to members of the U.S. Senate on intelligence issues in the Middle East.

Source