The Associated Press
Monday 01 October 2007
Washington - Powerless in their effort to bring troops home from Iraq, Senate Democrats were on track Monday to help pass a defense policy bill that would authorize another $150 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The vote comes as the House planned to approve on Tuesday separate legislation requiring that President Bush give Congress a plan for eventual troop withdrawals.
The developments underscored the difficulty facing Democrats in the Iraq debate: They lack the votes to pass legislation ordering troops home and are divided on whether to cut money for combat, despite a mandate by supporters to end the war.
Hoping the political landscape changes in coming months, Democratic leaders say they will renew their fight when Congress considers the money Bush wants in war funding.
While the policy bill the Senate was set to approve Monday authorizes the money to be spent, it does not guarantee it; Bush will have to wait until Congress passes a separate appropriations bill before war funds are transferred to military coffers.
"I think that's where you're going to see the next dogfight," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., of the upcoming war spending bill.
Democrats say their options include directing that the money be spent on bringing troops home instead of combat; setting a date when money for the war is cut off, and identifying a goal to end the war to try to pressure Bush to bring troops home.
Similar attempts have been made but fallen short of the 60 votes needed to overcome procedural hurdles in the Senate.
"Many of us have reached a breaking point on this," said Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill. "I've done this for too many years. I've waited for the president to start bringing this war to an end. I'm not going to sign up for this any longer."
In the House, Democrats are pushing for a bill that would require the administration to report to Congress in 60 days and every 90 days thereafter on the status of its redeployment plans in Iraq.
The bill, sponsored by Democrats John Tanner of Tennessee and Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii, was initially cast aside as too mild by Democratic leaders focused on tougher proposals ordering troops home this fall.
But after Democrats were unable to peel off Republican support, the Iraq debate stalled and some four dozen rank-and-file Democrats demanded a vote on the Abercrombie-Tanner bill.
"This will be the first time since the war in Iraq began that we are working together as a Congress instead of one party or another to be a constructive voice in the civilian management of operations in Iraq," Tanner said in a statement e-mailed to the Associated Press.
In addition to war money, the Senate's defense policy bill authorizes more than a half trillion dollars in annual military programs, including such big-ticket items as $10.1 billion for missile defense.
Republicans predict the bill is on track to be vetoed by President Bush because it includes hate-crimes legislation by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. The White House said it sees Kennedy's proposal, which would let federal law enforcement help states prosecute attacks on gays, as unnecessary.
The House passed its version of the defense authorization bill in May by a 397-27 vote. That $646 billion measure would trim hundreds of millions of dollars from some weapons modernization programs and use the money instead to aid troops in combat.
The House bill has drawn a veto threat from the White House because of provisions insisting the military rely heavily on American-made products and proposed changes to the Pentagon's personnel policies.
Congress Raises Limit Again as US Debt Nears $10 Trillion
By Rob Hotakainen
McClatchy Newspapers
Monday 01 October 2007
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Donations to the Bureau of the Public Debt have topped $2.5 million so far this year. That's the highest amount since at least 1996.
It's not making much of a dent, though.
For the fifth time since 2001, Congress is raising the debt limit, increasing it by $850 billion to $9.815 trillion. The Senate approved the plan on a 53-42 vote Thursday night. The House of Representatives has already signed off on the plan, without a direct vote.
That's $9,815,000,000,000.00.
According to the folks who follow this stuff closely, the national debt has been rising by an average of $1.36 billion per day since September of last year.
And each citizen now has a share of nearly $30,000.
But Congress has an easy solution to deal with the mounting red ink. Instead of fretting over it, members simply allow the government to borrow more money, much to the consternation of some critics.
"American families don't have the luxury Congress has," said Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who opposed the increase. "They can't get a new loan or new credit cards after they have maxed out their capability to borrow. Yet instead, every day in this body we do essentially that."
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said Congress had to approve more borrowing by early October or the government wouldn't be able to pay its bills.
Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., who heads the Senate Budget Committee, said the national debt "has exploded" as a result of President Bush's tax cuts, forcing the federal government to borrow more money abroad. He said the United States is "in hock" to Japan, owing more than $600 billion, and China, owing more than $400 billion. He said the rising debt comes at the worst possible time, right before a flood of baby boomers retires, but that Congress has no choice but to raise the debt ceiling.
"If we fail to act in a timely way on raising the debt limit, the creditworthiness of all United States instruments would be called into question," Conrad said. "That could have a very severe effect on already shaky financial markets."
Bush's supporters say the president has had little choice but to rack up more debt to pay for two wars because he inherited a weakened economy in 2001.
Coburn said it's irresponsible to raise the debt limit while Congress creates or expands federal programs that will result in additional borrowing. He said his colleagues for years have "raided the Social Security and Medicare trust funds to hide the true size of the annual budget deficit" and that it's time for Congress to reduce spending.
"We have been on notice since that time that we needed to make the effort to rein in wasteful Washington spending so that we do not have to, in fact, borrow more money against our children's future," he said. "Only 10 years ago it was $5.95 (trillion). We have increased the debt in the last 10 years by 50 percent."
Until the early 1960s, people couldn't donate money to the federal government with a specific use in mind. When a Texas woman wanted to contribute money specifically to lower the debt, she got Congress to pass a law creating a special fund for gifts. Since then, thousands of Americans have contributed, donating $1.6 million last year alone. In 2006, a 98-year-old Ohio woman donated her $1.1 million estate.
Pete Hollenbach, the bureau's spokesman, said the names and addresses of donors are kept secret because of privacy concerns. Most of the donations are modest, with people sending checks of $25 to $50 as they express a desire to both reduce the debt and give a little something back to their country. Hollenbach said donations usually peak during tax season.
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