Big action in the Senate today. A series of votes will occur on a number of important issues including the war appropriations. But, the most telling vote will be on the GI bill sponsored by Senator Jim Webb. This has been one of Webb's signature issues and he has worked tirelessly to get it passed with broad support. The biggest obstacles have been George Bush and his wingman, John McCain. Things got ugly in the Senate yesterday during the debate on the bill as Bush/McCain lapdog Lindsey Graham tried again to derail Webb's bill:
Conservative Republicans railed against Virginia Sen. Jim Webb's GI bill on Wednesday as the Senate prepared for a showdown vote today on whether to give troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan a free college education.
Two senators sponsoring a less-generous alternate bill backed by the Bush administration said Webb's measure would entice too many troops to leave the military earlier than planned in a time of war.
"It spends $52 billion to persuade people to leave the military," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
He's pushing alternate legislation backed by Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
Democrat Webb has refuted the argument, saying there's no evidence that his measure will hurt military retention.
But tempers flared Wednesday, after a veterans group started a television ad campaign attacking McCain for failing to support Webb's bill.
"McCain thinks covering a fraction of our education is enough," a veteran says in the ad, sponsored by VoteVets.org.
"We didn't give a fraction in Iraq. We gave 100 percent."
Lindsey Graham is such a tool. He and his crew think nothing of spending trillions on the Iraq war, but want to shortchange the troops. It would only take 3 1/2 months of Iraq war funding to pay for the GI bill.
Also, here's the VoteVets ad that was such a hot topic on the Senate floor yesterday:
Yes. The leading opponents of the GI bill are George Bush and John McCain. Who says they're not one and the same?
To pass, Webb's bill will have to overcome a procedural hurdle requiring 60 votes. We'll know shortly which of the other Republicans actually support the troops -- and which Republicans just use the troops for political purposes.
Moving on to the next new parlor game: Vice Presidential candidates.
A very solid case is made for Jim Webb by an actual presidential scholar. And, the idea of Clinton on the ticket is also dispensed with very convincingly.
Note to Democrats on the Hill: Senator Jim Webb is one of your best messengers. Get him out there more. He's tough, authentic and believable.
Case in point was Webb's appearance on Hardball last night. Logan Murphy at Crooks and Liars has the video and the synopsis. Almost anytime Webb appears, it is must-see TV. This is another one of those times:
On Thursday’s Hardball Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) talked with Chris Matthews about the strong push from Dick Cheney and some members of the Senate — namely Kyl and Lieberman — to move closer to invading Iran. Matthews gets it, by passing amendments condemning Iran, they’re tying to get other legislators on the record so they can come back later and use it to make the case for war.
Matthews: “…But these guys, Kyl - Kyl and Lieberman are not diplomats, they’re hawks.
Webb: “Well, the Cheney element of the administration is well represented in the United States Senate.”
The drumbeat for war gets louder. And, Senators are enabling it. Those Senate resolutions matter to Bush and Cheney's war effort.
UPDATE: The Webb amendment could come up for a vote as early as today. So please call your Senators now. Senate switchboard: 202-224-3121.
A major battle is shaping up in the Senate over Jim Webb's pro-troops amendment. Webb's colleague from Virginia, John Warner, is prepared to screw over the troops -- and Webb. Call your Senators today. Crooks and Liars has a target list with numbers:
Republicans DO NOT support the troops. If you need more proof, read Jim Webb's statement about today's Republican filibuster of his troop readiness bill. The vote will occur today at around 11:30 a.m. We're posting Senator Webb's full statement because people need to understand that the GOP Senators -- and Lieberman -- are FILIBUSTERING a bill that actually does support the troops:
“Today the Republicans decided to filibuster an amendment that goes straight to the well-being of our troops. I deeply regret this move, which makes it necessary for the amendment to be passed with a minimum of 60 votes instead of 51.
“I would remind my colleagues on the Republican side of the aisle that the American people are watching us closely today. They expect us to finally take the sort of positive action that might stabilize the operational environment in which our troops are being sent again and again.
“Americans are tired of the posturing that is giving Congress such a bad reputation. They are tired of the procedural strategies designed to protect politicians from accountability, and to protect this Administration from judgment. They are looking for concrete actions that will protect the well-being of our men and women in uniform.
“The question on this amendment is not whether you support this war or whether you do not. It is not whether you want to wait until July or September to see where one particular set of benchmarks or summaries might be taking us. The question is this: more than four years into ground operations in Iraq, we owe stability, and a reasonable cycle of deployment, to the men and women who are carrying our nation’s burden. That is the question. And that is the purpose of this amendment.”
Today, the Senate is re-starting the debate on Iraq. For too long, Bush and the Republicans have bastardized the term "support the troops." Senator Jim Webb (D-VA), who knows a thing or two about the military, is introducing legislation that will actually support the troops. It's not just rhetoric, it's real policy:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senator Jim Webb today discussed Democrats' efforts to change course in Iraq and to ensure that our military and National Guard units deploying for combat operations are supported properly. Following the three deadliest months of the war, Democrats are forcing President Bush and Iraqis to finally accept some measure of accountability for this war through the Defense Authorization bill this week. Starting off the debate, Webb will introduce an amendment to the bill that requires active-duty troops to have at least the same amount of time at home as the length of their previous tour overseas.
“The war is headed in a dangerous direction, and Americans are united in the belief that we cannot wait until the Administration’s September report before we change course in Iraq,” Reid said. “Attacks on U.S. forces are up, Iraqi political leaders are frozen in a dangerous stalemate and a change at every front is required if we are to succeed. We cannot ask our military to continue to fight without a strategy for success, and we certainly cannot ask them to fight before they are ready to do so.”
“Now in the fifth year of ground operations in Iraq, this deck of cards has come crashing down, and it’s landing heavily on the backs of soldiers and Marines who have been deployed again and again while the rest of the country sits back and debates Iraq as an intellectual or emotional exercise,” Webb said. “We’ve reached the point where we can no longer allow the ever-changing nature of this Administration’s operational policies to drive the way our troops are being deployed. In fact, the reverse is true. The availability of our troops should be the main determinant of how ground operations should be conducted.”
Webb knows what's he talking about. On the other hand, as I wrote this morning, Karl Rove is helping to direct the Bush administration's Iraq policy. That means they'll be thinking about politics, like usual, and not the men and women on the front lines of the war Bush started.
On Iraq, the Democrats are focusing on real policies that will support the troops. All we'll get from Bush are more games, more spin, more slogans -- and that only means more dead and wounded American soldiers. Letting Rove play politics with Iraq is a sick way to show support for the troops. We'll see who the GOP Senators side with -- the troops or George Bush and Karl Rove.
