Crenshaw: Democrats Take Advantage Of War Funding Bill

Statement

Congressman Ander Crenshaw today issued the following statement regarding his vote against the Fiscal Year 2009 War Supplemental Conference Report (H.R. 2346):

"Our troops put themselves in harm's way for our protection, and my support for that mission remains concrete strong. Unfortunately, the Democrats have taken advantage of the war funding bill to pass their own priorities rather than keep sharp focus on the mission at hand.

"On May 14th, I supported a clean Troop Funding bill that is now drastically modified. I cannot support a misguided conference report that prioritizes a global bail-out for foreign countries over funding for American soldiers.

"Three key provisions of this bill - a global bailout of International Monetary Fund members, like Hugo Chavez; weakened Guantanamo Bay detainee provisions; and allowing the release of sensitive photos from Abu Ghraib prison - all diminish the war mission.

"By including $5 billion in funding for the International Monetary Fund, which will be used to secure a $108 billion in loans, funding in the final agreement for the IMF is almost $30 billion more than what is provided in the bill for our men and women in uniform.

"I've always supported the troops, but this end product is disappointing, and did not deserve my vote. The Democrats have opted to insert provisions that should be dealt with separately. A conference report to fund the Department of Defense and Military Construction projects should be just that and nothing else."

The House passed the Fiscal Year 2009 War Supplemental Conference Report by a vote of 226 - 202. Crenshaw pointed to controversial provisions in the $106 billion Conference Report regarding:

IMF funding: Contains $5 billion taken from important defense and military construction programs to fund the IMF, which will be used to secure $108 billion in loans. The IMF funding and accompanying authorization proposal was not a part of the original House package nor did it go through the normal deliberative committee process. Some of the funding may go to IMF member countries (i.e. Iran, Venezuela, Sudan, Zimbabwe, and Burma) whose governments are less than favorable to the United States;

Abu Ghraib prison: The bill removes a bipartisan Senate amendment in the War Supplemental, offered by Sens. Lieberman and Graham, to prevent the release of sensitive detainee photos at Abu Ghraib prison. The amendment was offered to avoid any anti-American tensions in the region where our troops are currently engaged in hostile activities;

Guantanamo Bay: Contains significantly watered down language relating to the release or transfer of detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

Source