Quote:
Originally posted by Superbelt
Bob Woodward disclosed in his book that President Bush in July of 2002 diverted $700 million into Iraq invasion planning without informing Congress
According to Woodward, Bush kept Congress "totally in the dark on this” leaving lawmakers with "no real knowledge or involvement."
The Constitution gives Congress the purse strings and both supplemental bills that Bush drew this 700 million from had specific language in it. Bush had discretion with how to spend the money but was obligated to inform congressional leaders.
9/11 emergency appropriations
The President had discretion to spend this $10 billion of the post-9/11 Emergency Supplemental bill, the legislation specifically obligated the President to "consult with the chairmen and ranking minority members of the Committees on Appropriations prior to the transfer" of any funds.
The WH used vague and misleading words to describe how it was spending this money. Never mentioning Iraq whatsoever in the descriptions.
It used wording like "increased situational awareness" and "increased worldwide posture"
Link 1
Link 2
In the Aug '02 supplemental. Bush moved several hundred millions of dollars.
The wording of the supplemental stated that: the funds could be moved "15 days following notification to the appropriate Congressional committees."
Aug Supplemental
The administration cannot provide one shred of evidence of a transfer notice for supplemental funding that mentions Iraq. Source
On Tuesday Senator Roberty Byrd said that the Admin "the Bush White House provided no consultations as required by law" Byrd was the chairman of the appropriations committee at the time (2002)
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What you've got there is Bob Woodward's opinion of what happened and people's interpretation of what "should" have been done without any knowledge about if anything else was done. There is no specific information about what $700 million it was, who transferred it, what notice was required, when that notice was required to be given, what form that notice needed to take, etc, etc, etc.
It's far too soon to make any statements about it beyond, I will be interested in seeing what all the details are. Anything further is pure speculation and it's not worth discussing.