Congressman Jerrold Nadler (Democrat NY) announced his introduction of a bill intended to "force a new direction in Iraq" and to begin the withdrawal of our troops on a timetable to have them all home by December 31, 2007.
The Protect the Troops and Bring Them Home Act would limit the use of funds to:
- Protecting our troops while they are in Iraq
- Bringing the troops home in a safe and orderly manner on a timetable beginning one month after enactment of the Act and ending by December 31, 2007.
- Providing assistance to Iraqi security forces
- Providing economic and reconstruction assistance
- Arranging for diplomatic consultations.
This bill goes even farther then the Kennedy bill which would tie funding to only supporting the current (prior) troop level. Obviously Bush could still pull of his signing letters and claim the right to violate the law but it gets tricky.
It is similar to if Congress specifically authorizes funding for the military to build a certain type of tank, and the President or the Defense Dept. decides instead to use it for something else that was specifically defunded. That gets close to embezzlement when you have authority to spend the money for one thing but choose instead to use it for something else for which you are not authorized.