Surge funding cut proposal by Sen. Kennedy

In a speech at the National Press Club, Senator Edward Kennedy said, "I am introducing legislation to reclaim the rightful role of Congress and the people’s right to a full voice in the President’s plan to send more troops to Iraq. My bill will say that no additional troops can be sent and no additional dollars can be spent on such an escalation, unless and until Congress approves the President’s plan.
My proposal is a straightforward exercise of the power granted to Congress by Article I, section 8 of the Constitution.
. . . Congress must have a genuine debate over the wisdom of the President’s plan. Let us hear the arguments for it and against it. Then let us vote on it in the light of day.
. . . The military action authorized by Congress in 2002 was for a very different war than we face today.
. . . It authorized a war to destroy weapons of mass destruction. But there were no WMDs to destroy. It authorized a war with Saddam Hussein. But today, Saddam is no more. It authorized a war because Saddam was allied with al Qaeda. But there was no alliance.
. . . My proposal will not diminish our support for the forces we already have in Iraq." [1]

"If Democrats were to pass legislation blocking the troop surge, Bush would almost certainly veto it, which means that Democrats would have to win over many Republicans to muster the two-thirds vote needed to override presidential vetoes.
Already, Republican leaders are preparing to rally their own members to oppose any effort to block funds.
. . . 'It's perfectly constitutional and legal for Congress to cut off funds for any war it doesn't want the country to fight, and it's done that before,' [Berkeley law professor John] Yoo said in an interview , referring to the cutoff of funds for Vietnam that Congress approved in 1973.
Congress was unable to muster a veto-proof two-thirds vote to cut off funds for all military action in Southeast Asia by Aug. 15, 1973, and Nixon did not challenge the law. All bombings halted in Cambodia by Aug. 14.
. . . Still, there seemed to be only a limited appetite for a showdown with the White House just days into a new congressional term." [2]

source
[1] The New York Times. Kennedy: George Bush's Vietnam. January 9, 2007.
[2] The Boston Globe. Congress could be last voice on troop surge. January 9, 2007.

posted: friday, january 12, 2007, 9:18 AM ET
update: friday, january 12, 2007, 9:58 AM ET

tags: iraq surge