War Funding Disconnect
There’s a lot of anger in antiwar circles about the supplemental spending bill that came out of the House-Senate conference committee, which appears to strip all timelines and mandated consequences from the bill. It’s being portrayed as a blank check for the president’s war policy
The major thing I’ve been grappling with in this discussion is that it seems like even many of the anti-war voices in Congress seem opposed to any action that would cut off funds. Whether that’s because of political fears, reliving Vietnam, beliefs about the separation of powers, or something else entirely, I’m not completely sure. But it seems pretty real and not something that’s going away any time soon. And given that fact, it seems like President Bush knows that he doesn’t have to compromise – even if by not compromising he’s doing himself and his party political harm. That seems like something that’s so hard for anyone else in Washington to comprehend that they really can’t come up with a strategy for it. I suppose it’s why I never really expected anything different to come from all of this – but I still wouldn’t mind if people proved me wrong.
About Dave Thomer
Born and raised in Philadelphia. Studied philosophy at Fordham University in the Bronx, where I made many great friends and met my wonderful wife. We moved back to Philadelphia, where I studied philosophy some more and became a teacher. Online and off, I'm looking for ways that we can be better citizens and build stronger communities.