The Swine in Washington

Before the congressional elections in 2006, the Democrats promised committee hearings and investigations, accountability of the White House, and a solution to our war in Iraq. Well, they have really delivered in grand fashion. With their recent bills in both the House and Senate passing by very slim margins, they seem to have outdone the Republicans they’ve replaced.

In the past week, both the House of Representatives and the Senate have passed bills calling for a troop withdrawal from Iraq by March, 2008. Unfortunately, these bills were supposed to be emergency funding for the military already in Iraq and Afghanistan and the President vowed to veto anything otherwise. So, what did Democrats do? They loaded it with pork amounting to more than $24 billion in order to buy votes from congressional members to approve the withdrawal. In the House of Representatives, that was just enough money to get the bare minimum of votes needed to pass the bill.

There’s over $24 billion of pork written into this emergency funding bill for the war that’s going to fisheries, spinach farmers, dairy farmers, Washington D.C. gift shops, and even the members of Congress themselves. What does this have to do with funding the troops? Absolutely nothing. Why call for a withdrawal in 2008 if you think the war is wrong? Why not opt to freeze funding and bring the military home now? What exactly does a withdrawal deadline solve? Was this the Democrats great solution to the war in Iraq that they promised the American people?

Over the past few days, President Bush has confirmed his intent to veto the bill when it reaches his desk. He is asking for a “clean” bill from Congress that addresses the funding only, not a withdrawal date that will undermine the effort of the Commander-in-Chief and his generals in the war. Upon hearing these speeches, Nancy Pelosi had her own message. She said:

“Calm down with the threats. There’s a new Congress in town.”

That’s right, Nancy, there is a new Congress in town. And this new Congress seems to be more inept than any in recent decades. Their thirst for revenge and control over the Executive powers seems to be clouding their judgments and their ability to perform their jobs. Instead of conducting one hearing after another trying to find something that will incriminate George Bush in some fantastical way, maybe they should focus on real issues that need attention, like illegal immigration. What happened to the Democrats that were upset with the out of control spending? It now appears that they were just upset because they were not the ones receiving credit for it.

The truth of the matter remains. The surge of troops in Iraq has quelled much of the violence there – it has fallen by almost 80% since it began. More people are returning to Baghdad every day, and this is killing the Democrats’ suggestions that we are failing and need to leave immediately. The Iraqi military is slowly taking over more responsibility and the citizens are enjoying their new freedoms and the new schools, hospitals, shopping centers, and everything else we’ve built for them. This is horrible news for Democrats because they’ve been saying for the past few years that we cannot win, just like they said about Vietnam after seeing the Tet Offensive on television – which was a complete military failure for the North Vietnamese.

So I hope, for the Democrats’ sake, that they’ve considered the consequences of their recent actions. They don’t have the votes to override a Presidential veto, so they’re going to have to revise the bill or create a new one. They’ve made it clear to the American people that they want to play politics with yet another war. They have no problem whatsoever using taxpayer dollars to buy votes for a bill that guarantees we will not win in Iraq. With all of the unnecessary pork added to this bill, it also appears that they have no interest in controlling spending.

In the meantime, hearings and investigations will continue into the actions of the White House with hope that the President can be impeached before the 2008 elections. Nobody in our current Congress, on either side of the aisle, has any interest in leading, especially the “new” leadership from the Democrats. The problems facing this country will apparently continue until the next election, which is bad news for Nancy and her party who promised real changes and real solutions. Well, $24 billion in potential pork and still nothing is resolved.

Sorry Nancy, it still seems like the same old Congress to me.

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