Tuesday, April 03, 2007

War funding....

The president will hold a press conference today regarding the House and Senate bills authorizing the funding to continue the war in Iraq - each of which also contains a provision setting a specific timetable for the withdrawal of all American troops. The president has vowed to veto whichever version hits his desk...and will likely repeat that position today when he talks with the press.

I attended an event at Pine Point School in Stonington yesterday, that also included Connecticut's Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman - and after the event I asked him what he thought was going to happen.

Lieberman, who voted against the Senate version because he opposes setting any date for withdrawal, said he fully expects the congressional conference committee will report out a bill that includes a specific timetable and the president will veto it. He doesn't believe there are the votes in congress to override the presidential veto, and described the jockey "as a form of harrassment." So what happens after that? This is what he said...

"What I'd like to see is a clean bill passed. The president will veto this, the votes aren't there to override it. So what I'd like to see is a clean bill, no deadlines, no conditions, and give the troops the money they need. That's what this is suppose to be all about.

"And let's step back, declare a truce in the political war. Give the general and the troops the four or five months they say they need and to see whether this is working. If people are not happy then, the DoD appropriations bill will come before Congress in September or October and they can try again."

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home