The Conservative Cave
Current Events => Breaking News => Topic started by: Wretched Excess on May 22, 2008, 01:31:04 PM
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Senate passes Iraq war funding bill with add-ons
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate has passed $165 billion to fund the war in Iraq until President Bush's successor takes over.
The 70-26 vote came just minutes after a majority of Republicans voted to add tens of billions of dollars for veterans college aid and extending unemployment benefits to the war funding bill.
But Bush has promised to veto the bill if it contains the domestic measures, and the president still has enough GOP support to sustain a veto.
The Senate also voted 63-34 to block a Democratic plan to urge Bush to begin redeployment of combat troops and place other strings on his ability to conduct the war in Iraq.
The House still has to act on the bill. Last week, the House voted to reject money for continuing the war.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
WASHINGTON (AP)—Senate Republicans have broken with President Bush to help Democrats add support for veterans and the unemployed to a bill paying for another year of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
The 75-22 vote also adds billions of dollars in other domestic funds such as heating subsidies for the poor and money for fighting wildfires to the $165 billion for the military operations overseas.
The vote is a rebuke to Bush, who has promised to veto the measure if it contains the domestic measures. However, the president still has enough GOP support to sustain a veto.
The House still has to act on the bill. Last week, the House voted to reject money for continuing the war.
The huge tally in the Senate was driven by the popular money to extend unemployment benefits by 13 weeks and providing returning Iraq war veterans with sharply increased college aid.
But dozens of add-ons favored by senators in both parties contributed to the unexpectedly sweeping tally.
Such initiatives included money for Louisiana and Mississippi for projects including levees and coastal restoration.
There's also $850 million for international food aid, $1.9 billion for military construction projects, and several billion dollars in various foreign aid programs—all requested by the administration.
In subsequent votes, the Senate was poised to approve $165 billion to fund Pentagon operations in Iraq and Afghanistan into next year and reject Democratic efforts to urge Bush to begin redeployment of combat troops and place other strings on his ability to conduct the war in Iraq.
Linky (http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D90QQJU80&show_article=1)
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MASSIVE ANGER ALERT:
more "politics of unity" from obama, who even campaigns for president from the floor of the senate chamber.
The two Democratic presidential candidates, Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, interrupted their campaigns to cast votes for the expanded veterans' benefits and extra jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed in the United States.
In a floor speech, Obama, who has a nearly insurmountable lead in the Democratic race, attacked Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, who was not present for the voting.
Prefacing his remarks by saying he respected McCain's military service, Obama added, "But I can't understand why he would line up behind the president in opposition of this GI bill" to help veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars pay for their college educations.
McCain backs a less extensive version of the veterans education bill.
link (http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN22512322)
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and "we the people" elected every single one of these idiots right up to and including the POTUS! :rotf: :tongue:
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Both Democratic presidential candidates, Senators Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary Clinton of New York, took time off the campaign trail to vote for the veterans-education program.
``This is a full and fair benefit to serve the men and women who serve us,'' Clinton said of the veterans-education measure.
linky (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aI.sKF0klIEg&refer=home)
this is probably nit-picking, but the members of the US armed forces serve their country. they defend us.
the difference seems fundamental. the waitress at lunch served me.
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mccain wasted no time in firing back, and scoring a direct hit.
"It is typical, but no less offensive that Sen. Obama uses the Senate floor to take cheap shots at an opponent and easy advantage of an issue he has less than zero understanding of," the Arizona senator said in a statement. "I know that my friend and fellow veteran, Sen. Jim Webb, an honorable man who takes his responsibility to veterans very seriously, has offered legislation with very generous benefits. I respect and admire his position, and I would never suggest that he has anything other than the best of intentions to honor the service of deserving veterans. Both Sen. Webb and I are united in our deep appreciation for the men and women who risk their lives so that the rest of us may be secure in our freedom."
McCain added, "And I take a backseat to no one in my affection, respect and devotion to veterans. And I will not accept from Sen. Obama, who did not feel it was his responsibility to serve our country in uniform, any lectures on my regard for those who did."
linky (http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/05/22/1053059.aspx)
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Both Democratic presidential candidates, Senators Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary Clinton of New York, took time off the campaign trail to vote for the veterans-education program.
``This is a full and fair benefit to serve the men and women who serve us,'' Clinton said of the veterans-education measure.
linky (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aI.sKF0klIEg&refer=home)
this is probably nit-picking, but the members of the US armed forces serve their country. they defend us.
the difference seems fundamental. the waitress at lunch served me.
demostrates their understanding of the military pretty well, I think. Bill always assumed he ran the military and it served him. We serve the country. The President is the Commander in Chief, but that means he/she must uphold the smae standards of the military members they lead.
Bill never understood that. Hillery and Obama surely don't.
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the full text of mccain's response (http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0508/Obama_criticizes_absent_McCain_on_Senate_floor_McCain_hits_back_hard.html)to obama's cheap shot.
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Good on McCain. It's nice to see him hitting them out of the park. Let's hope is a permanent strategy.
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mccain wasted no time in firing back, and scoring a direct hit.
"It is typical, but no less offensive that Sen. Obama uses the Senate floor to take cheap shots at an opponent and easy advantage of an issue he has less than zero understanding of," the Arizona senator said in a statement. "I know that my friend and fellow veteran, Sen. Jim Webb, an honorable man who takes his responsibility to veterans very seriously, has offered legislation with very generous benefits. I respect and admire his position, and I would never suggest that he has anything other than the best of intentions to honor the service of deserving veterans. Both Sen. Webb and I are united in our deep appreciation for the men and women who risk their lives so that the rest of us may be secure in our freedom."
McCain added, "And I take a backseat to no one in my affection, respect and devotion to veterans. And I will not accept from Sen. Obama, who did not feel it was his responsibility to serve our country in uniform, any lectures on my regard for those who did."
linky (http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/05/22/1053059.aspx)
Talk about a bitch slap.
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Obama just got told. :asssmack:
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It'll never be a contest at all with any war of words between John Sidney McCain and Barack Hussein Obama - still, the little twit hasn't learned yet not to pick on Juan.
The bluer the Senate is, the more pork they produce - when I opened this thread, I was just glad amnesty was stripped from the bill:
http://www.grassfire.org/29042/victory.asp
::)
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Good on McCain. It's nice to see him hitting them out of the park. Let's hope is a permanent strategy.
the "new politics of unity" apparently stops with the primaries.
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"It is typical, but no less offensive that Sen. Obama uses the Senate floor to take cheap shots at an opponent and easy advantage of an issue he has less than zero understanding of," the Arizona senator said in a statement. "I know that my friend and fellow veteran, Sen. Jim Webb, an honorable man who takes his responsibility to veterans very seriously, has offered legislation with very generous benefits. I respect and admire his position, and I would never suggest that he has anything other than the best of intentions to honor the service of deserving veterans. Both Sen. Webb and I are united in our deep appreciation for the men and women who risk their lives so that the rest of us may be secure in our freedom."
McCain added, "And I take a backseat to no one in my affection, respect and devotion to veterans. And I will not accept from Sen. Obama, who did not feel it was his responsibility to serve our country in uniform, any lectures on my regard for those who did."
(http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f276/irohde/Owned-Beaver.jpg)