Defiant House Passes Iraq Funding Bill

Despite warnings from President Bush, the US House of Representatives passed a bill which provides troop funding for only three months, and there is not a guarantee that future funding will be approved.

The Democratic controlled House, by a vote of 221-205, passed this troop funding bill even though President Bush has promised to veto any troop funding bill that limits his power as Commander in Chief of the Armed forces as outlined in the US Constitution.

This bill calls for $42.8 billion dollars in additional funding for on-going support of US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Because the Democrats are doing anything they can possibly think of, except actually working with President Bush, to end the war in Iraq, this bill also calls for an Iraq war progress review in July before an additional $52.8 billion is released.

After the war progress review is completed in July, lawmakers would then debate if further US involvement in Iraq is warranted, or if it is time for the troops to come home before their mission is finished.

Bush wants the nearly $100 billion up front and without conditions. "I'll veto the bill if it's this haphazard, piecemeal funding," Bush said earlier in the day.

This bill now moves to the Senate were it is expected that Senate lawmakers will try to 'clean-up' this bill so President Bush does not have to veto a troop funding bill for the second time. At this time, it does appear as though Senators are willing to give the President his $100 billion in funding upfront. However, what is left to be seen is what type, if any, of benchmarks the Senate will attach to this bill before passing to the President.

President Bush said he is willing to use benchmarks to measure progress in Iraq, but the President, and Republican Senators, did not go into details about what these benchmarks would look like.

Arguing for the House's latest war-funding plan, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, said, "The president of the United States himself has stated that our commitment in Iraq is not open ended. That's what this legislation says."

During the daylong debate that showed how deep the divisions are about the war in Iraq, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa, said, "We need to get our troops out of the killing zone."

Democrats continued to praise the efforts of US troops, but Democrats say Bush has totally mangled the war effort because he failed to come up with a successful political strategy for Baghdad.

Rep. Murtha said an example of this mismanagement by Bush is Iraq's oil, electricity production, steep price inflation,high unemployment rates, and potable water levels are below pre-war levels than when Iraqi President Saddam Hussein ruled.

Murtha went on to say 3,381 US troops have been killed, and over 24,000 troops have been injured. Democrats have even gone so far as to call the situation in Iraq a civil war because the Iraqi's have been suffering worse losses because of sectarian strife.

Rep. Jerry Lewis of California, the senior Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, countered that Democrats' reluctance to fully fund the troops "clearly calls into question their commitment to men and women in uniform."

Staunch anti-war Democrats on Thursday pushed for a complete withdrawal of combat troops by early 2008. While they lost on a 255-171 vote, backers said the vote demonstrated a sizable portion of the House wants to end the unpopular war

Defense Secretary Robert Gates sent a letter to Congress stating the 2-step approach to funding favored by Democrats will cause major disruptions to the effective and efficient operation of military personnel. This letter also said continued fighting over troop funding "negatively impacts our forces in the field" by delaying mine-resistant vehicles and other combat equipment.

Most Republicans have been siding with President Bush on the troop funding debate, but some are starting to put the President on notice that if the situation in Iraq does not show significant improvement by September or October; then some of these Republicans may end their support for Bush on this issue.

The planned 'summer vacation' by the Iraqi parliament has particularly troubled US lawmakers because US troops will still be putting their lives on the line in the 'hot' zone while these Iraqi lawmakers take a break.

Read more about the Defiant Democrats at Yahoo News