Feingold: 'Everything' on table to stop troop buildup

"Everything would be on the table" to impede the president's plan to commit additional troops to Afghanistan, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.) stressed on Tuesday.

Those tactics include efforts to block bills that would fund the new deployments, or attempts to install timetables that mandate troop withdrawal, the senator explained at a press conference this afternoon.

"I was just at our Democratic Conference lunch, and I spoke out on this," he told reporters at a press availability, alongside Reps. Walter Jones (R-N.C.), Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) "And I won't say who said what, but the number of people who joined me in expressing these very concerns was significant."

"Many members of my caucus and, I believe, members of the Republican Caucus, perhaps from different philosophical perspectives, will come to the same conclusion, that this is a mistake to move in the direction of this huge troop buildup," he added, acknowledging that he did not have the votes just yet to block the president's troop increase in any way.

Consequently, Feingold and his colleagues' remarks this afternoon are evidence of brooding political storm that could soon greet the president's decision to send more than 30,000 new troops to Afghanistan -- a strategy he will announce in a speech at West Point tonight.

Democrats -- and a handful of left-leaning political groups -- have criticized Obama since news of his decision broke, stressing he was making a grave mistake that could ultimately commit the United States to Afghanistan indefinitely.

At the same, a number of Republicans have carped Obama is short changing his commander in the ground, who first requested upwards of 40,000 troops in September. Some GOP members have also taken issue with the president's decision to present a malleable timeline in tonight's address -- a move, they argue, that demonstrates the United States is committing only lukewarmly to the conflict.

But the four lawmakers attending Tuesday afternoon's press conference represent a third, slightly more bipartisan camp: those pleased with the president's decision-making process, but concerned the strategy will prove too costly to work.

"He's doing what he thinks is right. We disagree with the particular decision," Feingold said on behalf of his House counterparts.

"I think what happened is President Obama was given a series of choices, none of which suggested getting out of there," he added. "All of them were about escalation or the status quo."

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