CNN:
Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold on Thursday urged Congress to cut funding for the Iraq war, while the Senate Republican leader threatened to filibuster any Democratic resolution opposing increased troop levels.
"Now Congress must use its main power -- the power of the purse -- to put an end to our involvement in this disastrous war and I am not talking here only about the surge or escalation," said Feingold of Wisconsin at a Senate hearing. "It is time to use the power of the purse to bring our troops out of Iraq."
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, on the other hand, proved he wasn't much of a deep thinker.
A non-binding resolution opposing the 20,000 troop increase announced by Bush is expected to be introduced in the Senate next week, but Democratic leadership aides say they are unsure when a final vote will take place.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said Thursday that Republicans might filibuster the Democratic-sponsored resolution opposing the strategy.
That was probably an off the hip response. The resolution would be nonbinding and would serve to get who was and wasn't supporting Bush's 'surge' on record. He's kind of tipping his hand here -- if he actually believed it would be effective, he'd be happy to have his and other Bush faithful's names on the record as opposing the resolution. Apparently, McConnell doesn't want his money where his mouth is. Besides, the hell purpose would it serve to filibuster a nonbinding resolution?
When McConnell declined to answer whether he had the vote to sustain a filibuster, Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid had the answer. "By my last count 12 Republicans publicly announced they don't support the surge," he said. If Reid's right, the filibuster would be blocked.
Tags: news | politics | senate | iraq | war | Russ Feingold | Harry Reid | Mitch McConnell | Wisconsin
