John Nichols: The Bring the Troops Home Amendment

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http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion?bid=15&pid=177683

The Bring the Troops Home Amendment
John Nichols


Anti-war Democrats Barbara Lee, Lynn Woolsey and Maxine Waters will today ask the House Rules Committee to allow consideration of an amendment by Lee to the Iraq War supplemental appropriations bill that would use the power of the purse to force the withdrawal of U.S. troops and contractors from Iraq by the end of this year.

The supplemental appropriations bill, as it is currently written, provides funding requested by President Bush for the continuation of the war -- along with some soft benchmarks and timelines to which the president objects. Backed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, the bill is seen as a slap at Bush but not a clear plan for ending the war.

Lee and Woolsey, California Democrats who chair the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and Waters, another California Democrat who leads the bipartisan Out of Iraq Caucus, want more muscular langauge. And the Lee amendment provides it, requiring that funds be appropriated only for the continued protection of U.S. troops and contractors, pending and during a withdrawal process that would be required to be complete by December 31, 2007.

The Lee amendment also provides funding for diplomatic initiatives and for social and economic reconstruction initiatives within Iraq.

The supplemental appropriations bill is expected to be considered by the full House as early as tomorrow. Lee, Woolsey and Waters will personally appear before the Rules Committee to ask that the Lee amendment be prepared for consideration by the House prior to a final vote on the supplemnetal.

Pelosi and her allies have been cautious about allowing consideration of amendments. But some members of the Democratic caucus suggest that permitting consideration of the Lee amendment -- which would draw broad support, though perhaps not a majority vote, from Democrats and anti-war Republicans -- would make it easier for the speaker to attract support from anti-war Democrats for the supplemental.

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