Hydrablog

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/29/world/middleeast/29cnd-prexy.html
November 29, 2007
White House Presses for Iraq Money
By DAVID STOUT [bush white house] [president bush] [america’s efforts on gsave] [balance of power between executive and legislature] [-iraq war ] [nsc prinicpals] [congress] [110th congress, 1st session] [followup] [*****]
WASHINGTON, Nov. 29 — The White House began a new offensive against Congressional Democrats today over money for the Iraq war, calling on the lawmakers to “stop ducking the issue of funding our troops” and pass a bill without strings attached.
“No matter how some leaders here in Washington, D.C., feel about the war, our troops deserve their full support,” President Bush’s chief spokeswoman, Dana Perino, said as the president was heading to the Pentagon for a series of briefings, after which he was to comment.
The White House issued a statement citing sharp declines in terrorist attacks, civilian fatalities and fatalities to Iraqi security forces since the increase, or “surge,” of United States troops began in June. As a result of this “return on success,” the White House said, about 5,700 American troops will come home by year’s end.
The White House accused the Democratic-controlled Congress of dithering for months about money for the war in Iraq and the Afghanistan campaign and being too eager to depart Washington for vacations at home. Congress should act “before leaving for another holiday week,” the White House said.
It was surely no coincidence that the White House went on the attack while members of Congress are still away on Thanksgiving break.
The last time the issue flared up, just over a week ago, the Democrats accused the administration of using scare tactics to try to get its way on the money bill. A bill approved recently by the House would provide $50 billion for the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns — but would call for pulling American troops out of Iraq by the end of 2008 and narrowing their mission in the meantime. The president’s Republican allies in the Senate stalled the bill in that chamber.
Democrats have described the conditions attached to the bill as prudent and reasonable; the president and his allies have disdained them as attempts to micromanage military operations from afar.
“We have nearly 200,000 troops in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, and they are relying on this Congress to send them the funding they need to complete their mission,” the White House said today. “We also have about 100,000 civilian workers at bases across the country who will be receiving furlough notices if Congress continues to delay action.”
The Pentagon has enough money to continue operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for the time being. It can shift money between accounts, although that can be complicated. And notices of layoffs do not necessarily mean they will actually happen.
Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company