When news of the supplemental bill reaching the House and Senate floors today was made known, many on Daily Kos assumed it was a coalition of DLC/Blue Dog/Third Way Democrats that were fueling the yea votes to provide funding for the occupation of Iraq and a blank check to the President.
I haven't checked the votes against caucus lists to see how everyone voted, I was most concerned about how my Representative, Jane Harman, was going to vote. I have been calling and emailing her office, urging her to vote "nay" on this ill advised supplemental appropriate, just as she voted in favor of the McGovern amendment a few days ago.
Whether it was due to the volume of calls and mail she received, or her own personal experience and reflection, or a combination of both, Jane Harman once again voted her conscience.....
Here is a copy of her press release, as of a few minutes ago:
HARMAN VOTES "NO" ON IRAQ SUPPLEMENTAL
~ Calls vote a referendum on this President’s failure to listen; says claims that troops will be under-funded are "rubbish" ~
Washington, DC – Today, Representative Jane Harman (D-Venice) issued the following statement after her vote against the Iraq Supplemental Appropriations bill:
"Last weekend, I made my fourth visit to Iraq. Each time, despite the extraordinary dedication and effort of US and Iraqi soldiers, the country has seemed less secure. I stayed overnight inside Baghdad’s Green Zone in one of the trailer pods used by most Americans there. A day later I learned that a nearby pod had been totally destroyed by an RPG launched into the Zone in broad daylight.
"In Ramadi in Anbar Province commanders on the ground described real security improvements, but our group still needed full body armor to walk down the main shopping street, and I remain unpersuaded that our combat mission can succeed. The time has come for it to end. We must redeploy out of Iraq.
"Today’s vote offers two unsatisfactory choices.
"A ‘yes’ vote affirms funding for the troops and benchmarks, but fails to impose a responsible end to the combat mission.
"A ‘no’ vote will be manipulated to tell the troops I flew with on a C-130 just days ago that we are not sending the new anti-IED vehicles (MRAPs) and other support they so desperately need. Rubbish. Today’s vote is not about that. General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker will make certain that essential equipment arrives.
"Today’s vote must be seen as a referendum on this President’s refusal to listen to a majority of Americans and a majority of Congress, who want him to end the combat mission and implement the Iraq Study Group’s recommendations on training, counter-insurgency, and enhanced diplomatic and economic efforts in the region.
"I support our troops and I refuse to be manipulated. My ‘no’ vote on the Iraq Supplemental is a vote to move past the fractured politics on Iraq and restore some sanity and bipartisanship as Congress confronts the serious threats of the 21st century."
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http://www.house.gov/...
Thank you, Representative Harman, you did what you said you would do. You said a year ago you would give the Iraqi government until September of 2006 to get their act together; and if they couldn't, you would rethink your support of this ill-fated occupation. That's what you did, and you have consistently voted to redeploy our troops ever since.
That's called integrity.
That's called leadership.
Both are rare commodities inside the Beltway these days.
Thanks again.