Congress Passes 2nd Funding Bill

In lieu of the President’s May 1st veto of the Iraq War Funding Bill, Congress has made a second attempt to fulfill the presidents request to “pass an emergency war spending bill that would provide our brave men and women in uniform with the funds and flexibility they need.” The President’s request is for $90 billion.

The first attempt included a provision that would have required troop withdrawal from Iraq to begin by October first, which was the primary cause of the veto. This time Congress has taken a different route in its attempt to exercise some control over the President, not by imposing deadlines, but by funding the war in installments. The proposed bill would provide over $30 billion to cover expenses from now until July. The President would then have to report back to Congress in order to obtain the $53 billion that would cover war expenses until the fiscal year ends in September. Specifically, he would have to "[report] to Congress this summer on the Iraqi government's progress toward meeting security goals.”

Rep. Rahm Emanuel described this approach as "a chance to respond accordingly both to what we're hearing from our constituents... our desire to be honest to the notion and sense that we need new policy initiatives that haven't been seen."

According to Tony Snow, Bush will likely veto this bill because “there are restrictions on funding and there are also some of the spending items that were mentioned in the first veto message that are still in the bill.” It seems as though he will continue this tantrum of denying the troops' funding until he gets the blank check he's used to, whilst whining that it is Congress that's being unreasonable.