WASHINGTON - President George W. BushÂ’s request for nearly $200 billion more to fund the Iraq war will not be approved unless it is linked to a plan to bring home US combat troops by January 2009, the head of the House appropriations committee said on Tuesday.
Rep. David Obey, a Wisconsin Democrat, told a news conference his panel would not even consider the war funding request until early 2008, by which time he estimates funding for military operations will have run out. Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently outlined the request to Congress.
I suspect Bush will be happy to play chicken on the funds right during the primaries. Let the Democratic presidential candidates squirm on this one. | In proposing the new timetable for withdrawing troops, Obey said, “As chairman of the appropriations committee, I have no intention of reporting out of committee any time in this session of Congress any such (war funding) request that simply serves to continue the status quo.” Obey said he would be more willing to consider the money request if it would also “establish as a goal the end of US involvement in combat operations by January of 2009.” That is when the next US president would succeed Bush. |