So that passed, but obviously it was unpopular among liberals who were under the impression there wasn't going to be another supplemental appropriations bill without a time line for withdrawal. It barely managed to pass, but then Obama came up with the brilliant idea idea of adding a $100 billion dollar bailout for European banks to the bill for some reason, I assume since the first one that was at least for American banks was so popular...Another war supplemental? But I thought...
I've been reminding you that it was coming for the past couple weeks, and now it's about to hit the floor. And as expected, sending a $100 billion war funding bill to the floor is going to create some problems.
Roll Call ($):Is it hard to get "GOP Help on War Spending?"House Democrats Seek GOP Help on War Spending
By Geof Koss
CongressNow Staff
May 11, 2009, 12 a.m.
Despite their increased numbers, House Democrats are once again courting Republicans to ensure passage of a war spending bill opposed by disaffected liberals.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has been urging anti-war Democrats to reverse course and support the $96.7 billion legislation when it goes to the floor this week. But the liberal bloc that has opposed past supplemental spending bills for the military operations appears to be holding firm in its opposition to the latest edition.
Apparently, you have to make sacrifices:Entirely aside from any value judgments on the substance, take note of the moves here. They're very astute. Strip out the Guantanamo closing money, and Republicans will agree to take the place of Democratic defectors in passing the war supplemental. Then put the Guantanamo closing money in another vehicle, and the defectors return to the fold, but Republicans depart. Two very different majorities assembled to pass two different and controversial pieces of the same broader effort (even if you're still not entirely convinced about exactly what that effort is).[W]ith a few careful legislative tweaks - chiefly, cutting $80 million sought by the administration to close the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba - Democrats should easily cement sufficient GOP support to offset Democratic defectors.
Clever. Not inventive, of course. It's routine business. But worth noting as Congress watchers.
And what about the timelines that were all the rage in previous supplementals?That's sure to come up in the debate. Will it be hard to justify not trying to include more concrete timelines now that Bush is no longer president? We'll see. Of course, Republicans are just coming off of six years of arguing that it was always improper to try to include such restrictions, so it's not exactly a clean shot. And there are probably more than a few Dems who would be only too happy to admit that no, they never trusted Bush, but feel a lot better about Obama's leadership. That wouldn't be unexpected.In an effort to bring liberals back into the fold, the supplemental also includes language added by Obey that requires the administration to report to Congress in one year on progress by the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan toward five stability and security benchmarks.
The standards fall short of the firm deadlines sought by some, but they were enough to undercut a proposal by Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) that would have required the administration to develop an exit strategy for Afghanistan.
Oh yeah, another thing. I'm sure many of you are wondering what ever happened to the whole, "we're not gonna do supplementals for the war anymore" thing. The wheels turn slowly in Washington. This is a supplemental for fiscal year 2009 (FY09), the regular appropriations bills for which were passed last year in the 110th Congress and under George W. Bush. The FY10 Defense Appropriations (and others which might include other bits of war-related funding) haven't been passed yet. So technically, we're still kind of operating under Bush budgeting until October 1, 2009, when the new fiscal year begins.
I know, I know.
And finally, for those of you looking for some sport: Remember that $870 million in flu pandemic preparedness the Senate "moderates" were so intent on cutting out of the stimulus (right before we confronted... a flu pandemic)?
Obama also decided it would be a goo opportunity to get rid of a pesky little problem that had been plaguing him for a few weeks:House Republicans Oppose $100B New Line of Credit for IMF
Republicans in the House are lining up to oppose an almost $100 billion war-funding bill if Democrats insist on including in it a new line of credit for the International Monetary Fund.
Democrats may have to scramble to pass the bill in the House, where GOP votes are likely to be needed to make up for about 50 anti-war liberal Democrats who opposed it last month.
At the core of the $98.8 billion House-Senate measure is $79.9 billion for the Pentagon, a figure that's also rankling House Republicans since it represents an almost $5 billion cut from the version that passed the House last month. That measure did not include funding for the IMF.
Responding to media reports that House Democratic negotiators have agreed to include a new $100 billion line of credit to the IMF -- a top priority of President Obama -- the top Republican in the House said Tuesday he would oppose the bill.
"Let's be clear: a troop-funding bill should fund our troops, period," said Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio. "Weighing down this critical legislation with nondefense spending will only drag this process out further and cost it essential Republican support needed for passage."
Obama promised the IMF money at April's G-20 summit to help developing countries deal with the troubled global economy. About $8 billion for an earlier commitment for the IMF will be included.
The actual U.S. costs for the IMF contribution are far less -- $5 billion is the Congressional Budget Office estimate -- since the U.S. government is given interest-bearing assets in return. Still, U.S. debt would have to be issued to provide the money at a time when government borrowing has exploded.
"There is absolutely no reason for the Democrat majority to complicate a bill intended to fund our troops by larding it up with over $108 billion in borrowed money for the IMF," said House GOP Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia.
Obama is sending more than 20,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. For the first time, the annual cost of the war in Afghanistan is projected to exceed the cost of fighting in Iraq.
With support forces, the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan is expected to be about 68,000 by the end of the year -- more than double the size of the U.S. force at the end of 2008.
Meanwhile, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, confirmed that the measure would contain money for eight C-17 cargo planes, a top priority of the Boeing Co. and its allies in states such as California, Missouri and Washington.
The bill will not contain $50 million for the Pentagon and $30 million for the Justice Department requested by Obama to close the U.S. detention facility at the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. A successful GOP-led effort to prevent the bill from being used to close Guantanamo dominated Senate debate last month, even as the war-funding measure would boost total spending approved for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars above $900 billion.
An official meeting of House-Senate negotiators is tentatively slated for Thursday, House Appropriations Committee spokeswoman Kirstin Brost said.
The measure also includes $489 million sought by Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., and homestate GOP colleague Roger Wicker to restore barrier islands along the Mississippi Gulf Coast destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and restore ecosystems such as salt marshes to protect the coast. Without the islands, Mississippi is more vulnerable to future hurricanes.
The Mississippi duo also obtained $49 million for hurricane repairs to a former Mississippi Army Ammunition Plant -- which provides workspace for 20 tenants -- to facilitate its transfer to the Stennis Space Center.
The funding for that and other Senate "earmarks" came despite an admonition by Obama to keep the measure free of such parochial items.
But since the Republicans are opposing it now, it doesn't have enough votes to pass. So what does Obama do? He sends people to twist arms to get it passed!Obama's support for the new Graham-Lieberman secrecy law
It was one thing when President Obama reversed himself last month by announcing that he would appeal the Second Circuit's ruling that the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) compelled disclosure of various photographs of detainee abuse sought by the ACLU. Agree or disagree with Obama's decision, at least the basic legal framework of transparency was being respected, since Obama's actions amounted to nothing more than a request that the Supreme Court review whether the mandates of FOIA actually required disclosure in this case. But now -- obviously anticipating that the Government is likely to lose in court again (.pdf) -- Obama wants Congress to change FOIA by retroactively narrowing its disclosure requirements, prevent a legal ruling by the courts, and vest himself with brand new secrecy powers under the law which, just as a factual matter, not even George Bush sought for himself.
The White House is actively supporting a new bill jointly sponsored by Sens. Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman -- called The Detainee Photographic Records Protection Act of 2009 -- that literally has no purpose other than to allow the government to suppress any "photograph taken between September 11, 2001 and January 22, 2009 relating to the treatment of individuals engaged, captured, or detained after September 11, 2001, by the Armed Forces of the United States in operations outside of the United States." As long as the Defense Secretary certifies -- with no review possible -- that disclosure would "endanger" American citizens or our troops, then the photographs can be suppressed even if FOIA requires disclosure. The certification lasts 3 years and can be renewed indefinitely. The Senate passed the bill as an amendment last week.
Then he starts actively betraying the Democratic party:Rahm’s Whipping on the War Supplemental
Rahm Emanuel is exerting pressure on progressive members of Congress to switch their votes and help pass the supplemental bill. The bill would not only fund the war in Afghanistan, it would also include IMF funding and the Graham-Lieberman amendment, which allows the administration to block the release of detainee photos in response to FOIA requests.
If 39 Democrats commit to vote against the supplemental, it won't pass.
For once, the votes of progressive members of Congress actually matter when it comes to funding the war. But they are being heavily pressured by Democratic leadership to toe the line.
So there you go. The next time someone says Obama can't get something done because he can't get Congress's support, just remember this. Obama is more then capable of getting things done in Congress, it's just a matter of where his priorities are. This is especially a damning indictment of the bullshit that's going on over Universal Health Care right now, where it looks like Congress is just going to make private health insurance mandatory, and Obama is doing next to nothing to actually get a public option passed.Obama Administration Cutting Deals To “Go Easy” On Republicans in 2010 Who Vote For Supplemental?
Jane reports that Ann Kirkpatrick may have been frightened into standing up to Emanuel and voting "no" tomorrow. Blue Dogs who don't will suffer at the polls next year. And Emanuel knows he's starting to lose them. So what's his latest strategy?
We hear he's turning to vulnerable Republicans and telling them he can get the DCCC to "go easy" on them next year if they vote for the Supplemental tomorrow. And Eric Cantor's office is really pissed.
It's one thing if he makes a deal with Vern Buchanan in Florida or Chris Smith in New Jersey, but we're hearing that he's offering to protect Republicans who have been slated as major DCCC targets, like Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI), Bill Young (R-FL), Leonard Lance R-NJ) and Charlie Dent (R-PA).
Watch tomorrow to see if any of these characters cross over and vote with Team Emanuel to bail out European bankers.
Your head is humming and it won't go, in case you don't know, the piper's calling you to join him