With the passage of the Iraq supplemental in the House Appropriations Committee, a seriously flawed bill has passed a major hurdle toward passage in that body.
The bill can still be changed by amendments offered and approved by the Rules Committee, and MoveOn and other organizations are working hard to back up the Progressive Caucus and ensure that some of the loopholes are closed and important elements, like McDermott's Iran provision, aren't completely lost. Having some of these teeth reinserted would make for a much stronger bill, but there's another route leadership can take to make this funding bill more meaningful.
There is an element to the House bill that could salvage the process. The bill sets a fairly aggressive timetable for the redeployment of troops out of Iraq through a series of benchmarks and certifications. The fact that Bush can waive these benchmarks and certifications if he believes it is necessary in the interest of "national security" lessens the impact of those deadlines significantly, and is the major sticking point for all of us who really want to see our troops out.
But ultimately, the legislation does set a troop withdrawal deadline of September 1, 2008, beyond which the presence of American troops would be "illegal." This provision has so far passed muster with both the Progressive Caucus and the Blue Dogs. Agreement on that element has been critical.
The House leadership could go a long way to making this legislation more palatable to those on the left who want a real check on the Bush administration on Iraq. By making a statement that they will back up the provision of bill to make the war illegal past September 1, 2008 by refusing to fund it past that date, they would ensure that the deadline was meaningful.
The statement would not have to be added to the legislation. Given that the deadline has already been agreed upon by the various Democratic caucuses, it wouldn't need to be. And defunding doesn't have to be legislated, it just has to happen. House Democrats have already settled on the end of August, 2008 as the ultimate deadline for getting troops out. If that were backed up by Pelosi, Hoyer, and Murtha making the statement that when they establish an end date, they mean it, the legislation would actually carry some weight.
Making that announcement now, with passage of the bill, gives the administration 17 months to plan. Should the benchmarks for the Iraqi government be met before that date, great, we're out that much earlier. But set this definite date for redeployment and reinforce it. No defunding legislation need be introduced, because defunding doesn't have to be legislated--it just has to happen. And this supplemental funding bill could be the vehicle through which to do the right thing--get our troops redeployed.