So the saga that is the Iraq/Afghanistan supplemental continues today, with word that Congressional Democrats–having decided the big issues–are ready to begin a conference on the legislation. Roll Call ($) reports that Democratic leaders are breaking the bad news to House liberals–the conference report won’t force a surrender in Iraq on a date certain:
Meanwhile, House Republicans will try return the favor, by getting Democrats on record on the ‘forced surrender’ provision. This won’t be a tough vote for many Democrats, who’ll be eager to cast a vote that pleases their base. But the GOP gains politically either way. If Democrats vote to keep the House’s strict language, Republicans can fairly say that the Dems support withdrawal regardless of the conditions on the ground. If they vote against it, Republicans can point out that their own position can’t be all that unreasonable, if some Democrats are voting for it as well. The Roll Call piece goes on to look at some of the House liberals who are unhappy at the decision to ditch the more extreme position:
I don’t expect that the conference report will encounter too much difficulty passing the House. Yes, some liberals will defect, and their votes will have to be made up from among the Blue Dogs. However, everyone knows that this vote is play acting; it’s about nothing more than political pressure on the president. Further, it will be followed by a vote on another version of the supplemental that is likely to eliminate the provisions on withdrawal dates, and instead simply tie political and economic assistance to Iraq achieving political goals. That will be the real test. Liberals won’t even be able to pretend that the measure forces the U.S. to get out of Iraq, and they’ll have a real hard time voting for it. Unwilling to craft a ‘clean’ supplemental, Democratic leaders won’t get many Republican votes, so their job is about to get much harder. While few want to see this drag out for months, they might even look to some version of the ‘micro-funding’ strategy, which Congressman Allen Boyd spoke of favorably in Congressional Quarterly:
This can’t be a particularly attractive option for Democrats. The Pentagon will argue that piece-meal funding complicates operations, training, acquisitions and other expenditures. The White House will complain about Congress’ failure to simply pass a bill. It also will extend the pressure from interest groups on Congressional Democrats to decide on the next step in undercutting the war effort. So if you think managing the Congress has been difficult for Pelosi and Reid so far, it is about to get much more worse for the Democrat duo.
