GOP to Pelosi: Resolve Iraq dollars

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Republican leaders in Congress urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to return from Easter recess “immediately” to resolve disagreements over the war funding bill so that military commanders don’t run out of money.

“This funding request has been pending since Feb. 5, but your leadership team chose to leave town for more than two weeks rather than completing this bill,” said a letter from Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., House GOP leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, and seven others. “As a result, our troops have been put at risk.”

Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly called the letter political gamesmanship.

“Republican leaders want a blank check to continue the war without end while Democrats and the American people want accountability and a safe and responsible end to the war,” he said.

Anyway, he added, a recent report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service “concludes that the Army could maintain its wartime operations well into July with funds the Army has already been provided.”

The exchange showed how the tables have turned in Congress since last year, when the Democrats were accusing Republicans of shirking their responsibilities.

“Coming from the Republicans, who ran the ‘do-nothing’ Congress, this letter is a cheap political stunt,” Daly said.

Not so, Republicans said, pointing to President Bush’s promise to veto the bill in its current form because it includes timetables for “surrender” and contains more than $20 billion in “pork” spending unrelated to the war.

Once vetoed, the bill will return to Congress, where Democrats appear likely to fall short of the two-thirds majority needed to override Bush’s veto. At that point, Congress will have to reach a compromise, or funding for the war will run out.

“Our troops need this funding, and they need it soon,” the Republicans wrote in their letter. “The Senate is in session and ready to work. We respectfully request that you cancel the remainder of your break, call the House back into session ... and work in good faith to pass a clean supplemental funding bill that the President can sign as soon as possible.”

churt@dcexaminer.com