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As Congress Caves On Iraq War Funding, '08 Dems Go Silent
Days after congressional Democrats signaled their intention to reverse course and provide President Bush with tens of billions in new Iraq war spending, none of the leading Democratic presidential candidates have weighed in.
On Monday, the progressive activist group MoveOn launched a new push for candidates to oppose any funding for the war that does not include a timeline for withdrawing troops.
Congressional leaders are set to consider a proposal as early as today that would end the current budget impasse by sending the White House an omnibus spending bill with unrestricted war funds - a move lambasted by war critics as capitulation.
In a release Monday, MoveOn called on the Democratic candidates and congressional leaders to block or filibuster the spending proposal, saying it was time for the candidates to "stand firm."
"Americans elected a Democratic Congress in 2006 to end the war in Iraq. A blank check for billions in war funding moves us in the wrong direction," said Nita Chaudhary, MoveOn's campaign director for Iraq. The Democrats "should hold the line they've drawn: no war funding without a timeline to end the war."
Since reports of the war-funding plan emerged late Thrusday night, none of the Democratic presidential candidates have issued public statements about the matter.
Spokesmembers for Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards and Bill Richardson did not immediately return telephone messages seeking comment.
MoveOn said it would deliver petitions signed by 15,000 veterans and military families to the offices of Senators Clinton, Obama, Dodd and Biden that would urge the legislators to block the spending plan with a filibuster.
"The Senators who are running for President have talked a lot about their leadership on Iraq - now's the time for them to show it by blocking this bad deal," said Eli Pariser, MoveOn's Executive Director.
Democratic leaders are preparing a new $500 billion plan that would send the president as much as $70 billion in Iraq funding, minus the mandates for troop withdrawal that many Democratic members have advocated.
House and Senate leaders reportedly consider the spending package the only way to solve the budget impasse by the end of the year. As of Monday, only one of the 12 annual spending bills has been signed into law.
Despite the fact that Democrats are widely seen as conceding on the troop withdrawal issue, the White House on Saturday indicated that the president would not sign the omnibus plan as described in the press.
White House budget director Jim Nussle called the proposal a "budget-busting bill" that the president would veto.
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December 10, 2007 02:10 PM