It seems I've written on this plenty (here, here, and here, for example), but now it looks like Dingy Harry is starting to agree with me: it's silly for Democrats to not pass legislation to fund the Iraq war in 2008. Democrats have effectively conceded the fight already, and there are too many Democrats in marginal districts who might take political hits from civilian furloughs. If Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid attempted to leave for Christmas recess without providing the needed funding, they might face a rebellion from moderates. So why not simply do the right thing and fund the Iraq effort?
Yesterday it was Jim Webb (D-VA) who signaled the retreat; today even Senator Reid seems to realize that the time might have come to quit trying to force a surrender:
Reid said Monday that the Senate still might take up a war funding bill before Christmas, and Democrats were still trying to find a compromise so it doesn't look like they've caved in to the White House on troop funding. Democrats are considering tweaking troop withdrawal language to lure a few more GOP supporters so the Senate could achieve a 60-vote filibuster-proof margin.
"I think we'll address war funding this month," Reid said.
McConnell says negotiations on war funding, have heated up in recent days, and suggested that the $50 billion "bridge" funding could be rolled into one giant omnibus spending package before the end of the year.
Reid himself shows the silliness of the Democrats' position:
Reid also accused President Bush of bluffing about the potential layoffs of 100,000 Pentagon employees if the war funding doesn't come through immediately. Bush says civilian employees will be furloughed because the Pentagon will have to pull from regular accounts to fund the war due to the Democrats' intransigence on Iraq funding.
Reid says that's just not true, adding that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates assured the Senate that the Army and Marines have month through the end of February.
"He's not leveling with the American people," Reid said. "The Army has enough money until the first of March."
The Democrats say they refuse to fund the war because they won't give the president any more 'blank checks.' Yet now that the Defense Department begins to plan furloughs, they protest that they have already given the Pentagon the power to fund the war with no encumbrances through February, at least.
The position is inherently untenable. If Congress intended to fund the war through February, and resents the implication that they have not done so, the only recourse is to actually fund the war!
