GOP Halts Debate on Surge Plan: Other Ideas Might Come Up

Feb 06, 02:18 AM

Current Headlines: By Katherine M. Skiba, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Feb. 6--WASHINGTON -- Proving that they still can flex their muscle while in the minority, Republican senators blocked debate Monday over the president's plan to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq. Banished to the minority just a month ago, GOP lawmakers used a procedural tactic to put off debate on the so-called troop surge that President Bush announced Jan. 10. Nearly four years into the war, there are now 137,000 troops in Iraq. In a 49-47 vote, Democrats fell 11 votes shy of the 60 needed to move forward with a full-scale Iraq debate. Proponents of sending more troops included Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn, who on Monday called the surge the "last best chance for success in Iraq." Democrats disagreed, saying that with U.S. combat losses approaching 3,100 and costs approaching a half-trillion dollars, it was time for a change in the direction in the war, just as voters asked in November. Now, it's unclear if and when a debate on the surge and related measures will occur. Several proposals have been floated, but three were expected to be considered this week. Much attention was focused on a bill backed by Sen. John Warner, a Virginia Republican, and Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat and chairman of the Armed Services Committee. The measure said the Senate disagrees with augmenting U.S. forces in Iraq by 21,500. It had garnered the backing of most Democrats, including Sen. Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, and several Republicans. A separate measure advanced by Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, and Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, supported the surge but required the Iraqi government to achieve specific benchmarks. Meantime, Sen. Judd Gregg, a New Hampshire Republican, put forward a resolution expressing the sense of Congress that "no funds should be cut off or reduced for American troops in the field." Wisconsin Democrat Russ Feingold, a leading anti-war senator, announced last week that he had rejected the Warner-Levin approach as weak and watered down. Feingold introduced a bill last week taking the opposite tack from Gregg. Feingold would use Congress' "power of the purse" -- its authority over spending -- to redeploy most troops from Iraq within six months of passage. Kohl, for his part, does not support setting deadlines or using the power of the purse to force Bush to change direction. He has said a non-binding resolution that expresses opposition to an increase in troops, though, can serve as a strong political signal to the Bush administration if it attracts a large enough bipartisan majority. After Monday's vote, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said GOP lawmakers were ready to debate Iraq and still hoped it could be done this week. He said, though, that he wanted a "fair process." Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada told reporters, "What you just saw was Republicans gave Bush a green light to escalate the war in Iraq." He appeared with top Senate leaders including Charles Schumer of New York, who complained that it was a lack of earlier debate "that got us into this huge mess." Reid said Monday's vote would not prevent lawmakers from taking up Iraq in weeks ahead. Cornyn, for his part, said a recent poll demonstrated that Americans by an almost 2-to-1 ratio oppose a non-binding congressional resolution against the surge. He said Americans believe such a measure would encourage the enemy and hurt troop morale. "The most important issue facing our country and the world is the global war on terror, the central front of which is Iraq," he said. Buy a link here

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