Senate Kills Iraq Surrender Bill

The surrender bill that the House passed recently was killed by the Senate, 53-45. The vote came just minutes after the Republicans attempted unsuccessfully (by the same vote count) to pass a bill to fund our troops with no surrender deadlines attached. The audacity of these Democrats is just astounding!

Majority Leader Harry Reid made the following statement during the debate:

The president got $470 billion this week. We met with Secretary Gates. He indicated to us there's 187,500 people in Iraq as we speak. He said the army is going to be just fine until the end of February. The Marines okay 'til the middle of March. I guess we expect too much from President Bush to recognize that this business that we're in of government is one that we're bound by the Constitution, that we have certain obligations and duties, one of which is to make sure that there are three separate and equal branches of government. We're going to continue to do what we can for the troops, recognizing that we've been told by the secretary of defense that everything is fine until the end of February and with the Marines until the middle of March. How much more can we do than say, "Mr. President, if you need the money, here it is. But just let us have a little accountability for the American people"? He said no.

Really? Next February? That's awfully strange, because Rush Limbaugh highlighted a Washington Times story that says the following:

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said yesterday that if Congress fails to approve war funds this week, combat troops and civilian personnel will face reductions in services and equipment.

"I strongly urged the Congress to pass a global war on terror funding bill that the president would sign," Mr. Gates said at a Pentagon briefing. "With the passage of the Defense Appropriations Act, there is a misperception that the department can continue funding our troops in the field for an indefinite period of time through accounting maneuvers. ... This is a serious misconception."

"Congress has provided very limited flexibility to deal with this funding shortage," Mr. Gates said. "We can only move a total of $3.7 billion under general transfer authority, which only amounts to a little over one week"s worth of war expenses."

Mr. Gates described the funding scramble as an impossible situation.

Reid says February, Gates says one week. Who do you think we should believe? You might want to call your Senators and Congressmen to urge them to pass a funding bill that doesn't force the U.S. to surrender. Tell them that Bush is already bringing troops home because of success, and and ask them to let our troops finish the job.

There's my two cents.