More on Off Budget Funding................

This past week, The US House voted overwhelmingly and incorrectly to grant the Bush Administration's latest "Emergency Supplemental Budget Request" for Afghanistan and Iraq to the tune of $81.4 BILLION. Only 43 House members voted against this effort to keep the funding for our interventions in the Middle East off budget. Of that 43, 39 were Democrats with familiar names like Kucinich, McDermott, Jackson-Lee, Rangle, Frank, and Waters, while 2 republicans and Independent, Bernie Sanders also opposed this vote. For those in Washington's 3rd CD, Brian Baird was absent for this vote.

Congressman Jay Inslee of the 1st CD, an early and vocal opponent to the invasion of Iraq and of earlier "Emergency Supplementals", was quick to respond to criticism of his yes vote. In a letter that he sent almost immediately after his House vote, he pointed to the fact that, unlike the previous off budget requests, this request was specific in its allocation of spending and noted how the House was able to back off funding for a new embassy in Baghdad and compel the administration to go public with their plans for permanent military bases in Iraq. From Rep. Inslee's letter: "... "also made funding for military infrastructure conditional upon the Department of Defense reporting it's long term plans. In other words, if they want to build permanent bases in Iraq, they will have to report that to Congress and the American people, and can be held accountable. I vigorously oppose building permanent bases, and the President should have made it clear a long time ago that we have no intention of staying in Iraq." He went on to close his letter by explaining that a "No" vote would have been simply symbolic and said, "Please be assured that I continue to oppose the war in Iraq, and I will continue holding the Administration accountable for their policies there. I also still believe that these funds should not be requested off budget in an emergency supplemental, as they are clearly foreseeable expenses. Nonetheless, my vote on this bill was guided by the same principles that led me to oppose the invasion, and I believe it was the right one." I want to say to Rep. Inslee that, while I disagree vehemently with this vote, I appreciate the effort to reach out and offer his explanation and continued support in the effort to end our involvement in Iraq. For the entire text of Jay's letter, go to: http://www.jayinslee.com/images/pdf/LetterOnSupplementalBudgetRequest.pdf

If we Progressives want (or need) to criticize anyone in this situation, we should be directing our CONSTRUCTIVE criticism toward Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the Minority Leader in the House. Rep. Pelosi should have been able to offer a better and more effective argument (or "frame") for the Democratic Caucus. What might that frame look like? To begin with, we should be turning the "Support the Troops" argument back on the neo-cons by pointing out that, by hiding behind off-budget supplementals, it is the republicans who will not make the tough choices of diverting non-critical DOD dollars to our troops in the field. We should be framing the discussion around the dishonest way that these off budget request hide from the taxpayers the increase to the federal deficit and, how in this year alone, the $82 BILLION reflects an almost 20% (hidden) increase in the DOD budget. Certainly we should be talking about how, after 2 years, the Bush Administration is either incompetent or outright deceitful in its planning in Iraq. Even the most rabid neo-con would have to admit that calling an ongoing military action in a country that has now been proven to have been no threat to this country an "Emergency" is an insult to our intelligence.

Now that the House has voted, what can we do? Well, there is still a Senate vote coming up on this same issue. We can begin with letters to Senate Minority Leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, (http://reid.senate.gov/email_form.cfm). This will take you to a form on his Senate website. We should be letting Senator Reid and our particular senators know how we feel as a group. We should be writing letters to the editors explaining what is happening with this off budget spending. We should be submitting and passing resolutions through our local, regional, and state Democratic organizations that call for an end to this off budget spending. To be sure, we need to let our elected representatives know when we disagree with a vote but we must never lose sight of the fact that we have an obligation to lead. We only "have the power" if we use it.