Voting to Uphold President's Veto of Iraq Surrender Bill
Statement
Voting to Uphold President's Veto of Iraq Surrender Bill
Today, I voted to uphold President Bush's veto of legislation which would bind any funding for operations in the War in Iraq with timelines to withdraw all combat troops. Nearly three months ago, the President requested $103 billion for emergency funding for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as Katrina reconstruction efforts. The bill agreed to in a conference committee by the House and Senate provided $124.2 billion in funding including many extraneous projects which were needed to "buy votes."
I voted to uphold the President's veto of the Iraq funding bill for two reasons: first the bill includes several arbitrary deadlines for the withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq and second, the Democrat leadership added $21 billion in non-emergency funding to buy the votes of members who would have otherwise opposed the bill. The bill originally passed by a narrow vote of 51% in the U.S. House and 53% in the Senate.
The Democrat Iraq funding bill would have required troops to begin leaving Iraq as early as July 1, 2007 with the removal of all combat forces completed by April 1, 2008.
Setting arbitrary deadlines to retreat from Iraq would have been like giving our enemies a clock counting down from today. We must leave the administration of war to the generals on the ground and not the politicians in Congress. The policy of setting surrender dates is as foolish as it is dangerous and I am glad the House upheld the President's veto.
In addition to surrender dates, the Democrat Iraq funding bill added more than $21 billion in non-emergency projects such as:
* $50 million for asbestos clean-up in the U.S. Capitol power plant
* $37.5 million for salaries and expenses for the Farm Service Agency
* $60.4 million for fisheries disaster relief
* $12 million for the National Forest System
* $20 million for dairy production losses
Maybe some of these projects can be justified but they are certainly not emergency spending for the troops. Apparently, Democrats thought it was more important to prove to the liberal wing of their party that they had a plan for retreat on the Global War on Terror. This is not how the majority of Americans, and certainly the vast majority of my constituents, want Congress to act. Now that Democrats have made their political point, it is time to get back to work so we can fund the troops.
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