The Dems are looking for a reasonable way to proceed on the Iraq funding issue. The question is whether Bush really is as well or whether he will continue to insist that a funding bill have "no strings" attached (ie a blank check) despite no public support (a new low of 28% job approval in the latest Newsweek poll) and dwindling Republican support (at least privately).
Are the Repubs in Congress willig to compromise or would they rather continue with their bombastic rhetoric about Dem "surrender" plans.
Congreeman Obey, the Chair of the House Approrpriations Committee ,has reportedly come up with a compromise (still in the planning stage) that would provide funding through July, then require Iraq to meet hard benchmarks on politcal and security goals in order for Congress to approve addtional funding beyond that. There would be no speficic timeline on US troop withdrawal.
The bill would also remove all the domestic spending in the bill (some of which is reasonable to consider in an "emergency bill and some just plain ole pork) and vote on those in a separate emergency funding bill.
http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/b...ing_up_to_bush
There is not much more detail yet, but it sounds reasonable to me.
Your thoughts or other options on the best way forward?