It’ll Be A Blue Christmas
Nearly a year after anti-war voters put them in power, congressional Democrats remain unable to pass legislation ordering troops home from Iraq. Frustrated by Republican roadblocks, Democrats now plan to sit on President Bush’s $196 billion request for war spending until next year — pushing the Pentagon toward an accounting nightmare and deepening their conflict with the White House on the war.
What the heck’s the matter with those people. I thought they had a mandate. This time last year, it was peace in our time.
“We’re going to continue to do the right thing for the American people by having limited accountability for the president and not a blank check,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
Limited accountability? What is this limited accountability?
Now, Democratic leaders say they won’t send President Bush a war spending bill this year. They calculate the military has enough money to run through mid-February.
The delay will satisfy a Democratic support base that is fiercely anti-war. But it also will give Republicans and the White House ample time to hammer Democrats for leaving for the holidays without funding the troops.
“We ought to get the troops the funding they need to finish the mission without restrictions and without a surrender date,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
Limited accountability must be a holiday season full of carols about who isn’t supporting the troops, and Christmas cards that claim that gift card with nothing on it is the best gift the grunts will get this year. That’s a Blue Christmas.
Here’s something the troops definitely aren’t getting for Christmas. Lunch. Not a free one, anyway.
Republicans said there were appalled by Sen. Chuck Schumer’s comment, reported by The Associated Press on Thursday, that the Bush administration wouldn’t get a “free lunch.”
Schumer, D-N.Y., had told reporters that unless Bush accepted the restrictions, the Defense Department would have to eat into its core budget.
“The days of a free lunch are over,” he said.
But this is what will really make it a Blue Christmas.
The Pentagon confirms the military will not run out of money until mid February, after which all Army bases would cease operations.
But Defense Secretary Robert Gates said this week that without the money now, drastic steps would have to be taken in anticipation of the shutdown, including plans to freeze contracts and to furlough about 100,000 government employees.
Notices to some union employees would start going out in mid-December, he said.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:09 pm on Friday, November 16, 2007
5 Responses to “It’ll Be A Blue Christmas”
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November 16th, 2007 at 11:34 pm
Didn’t Newt Gingrich destroy his political career with this very tactic?
November 17th, 2007 at 6:23 am
That’s the way the media allowed Clinton to spin it. In reality, it was Clinton’s fault because he had a bill sitting on his desk HE REFUSED to sign.
This is somewhat different, congress apparently can’t get the bill onto Bush’s desk.
November 17th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
Fucking bastards.
November 17th, 2007 at 6:34 pm
Fucking bastards is right.
November 17th, 2007 at 10:48 pm
Amen.