Have our congressional leaders completely caved in on a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq? If the story that’s running in this morning’s edition of the Los Angeles Times is correct, Democrats have given Bush a major victory.
WASHINGTON — Scrambling to send President Bush an emergency war spending bill he will sign, Democratic leaders have decided to drop their insistence on a timeline for withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq.
The move — which comes just days after senior Democrats insisted that White House officials should support nonbinding timelines — is a significant concession to the president and his Republican allies on Capitol Hill, who have steadfastly rejected any dates for bringing U.S. troops home.
The impetus seems to be the "necessity" to send the president an interim war funding bill before an artificially imposed deadline of Memorial Day.
Democratic lawmakers are under pressure to send the president an emergency spending bill before the Memorial Day break or risk being blamed for withholding critical funding for U.S. troops.
That’s the real reason, isn’t it? Ever since the Democrats fell victim to "who lost China" badgering by the Republicans in the late 1940s, the party has been gun shy on national defense issues. Forget the fact that the electorate gave Democrats control of Congress in the November elections because of widespread disgust over the Iraq War. Forget the fact that 59% of the American public wants withdrawal date set.
The Republicans play the "abandon the troops card," and the Democrats fall right in line.
So what’s the consolation prize?
Democrats also are working to include a minimum-wage hike in the funding bill in an effort to push that long-delayed legislative priority into law.
Yeah, that might finally get this badly needed piece of legislation through without concurrent tax breaks for the wealthy. Tell that to the families of the next troops who fall.