There’s stunning news this morning. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has declared that while he believes the president has made numerous mistakes in the prosecution of the war in Iraq, he is scheduling a vote this week on legislation to provide full funding for the conflict and affirm the president’s constitutional authorities as Commander in Chief. Reid stated ‘there will be plenty of time to analyze our mistakes after our troops are out of harm’s way. In the meantime, I believe that it’s important to make clear now that the country is united in defense of our interests, as it will be — I hope — under a Democratic president in 2009.’ At least, that’s what we might be writing if the Congressional leadership were not determined to use Iraq as a political football. Since it is, the story is that Senator Reid has decided to sneak a funding measure through by attaching it stealthily to a pork-barrel bill that Senators regard as ‘must-pass.’ He’ll offer a vote on a forced retreat from Iraq to satisfy the base, and then offer an Iraq funding bill:
This is not far from the ‘placeholder’ approach that Reid floated yesterday. By offering the same bill as the president recently vetoed–but with waivers to make it less objectionable to Republicans–Reid should be setting up a conference that might ultimately produce a compromise the president can sign. At the same time, Carl Levin remains rather lonely; he’s the only Democrat continuing to promise that the Congress will ultimately fund the troops. The unwillingness of Senator Reid to speak truth to power–and tell the netroots that the Congress won’t pull the rug out from under the troops–is becoming extremely troubling. The refusal to make such a clear statement is whetting the appetite on the left for a decisive vote in favor of withdrawal. It’s not getting any easier to pull the bandaid. McQ is on top of this news as well.
