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Wise Reid Compromise
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02/01/07 09:31 AM ET
A bright moment broke a long, dark and divisive streak in Congress yesterday, as the Senate arrived at Resolution on the Resolutions, courtesy of Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). The decision to coalesce around one strongly bipartisan Iraq war resolution may be fragile, but it is a terribly significant agreement. And should it hold, it will likely be historic as well.
On Tuesday Republicans were splintering; some allied with Democrats opposed to President Bush's troop increase, and others lined up behind Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to try to stop the bipartisan rebuke. Plans were made for Bush to meet with some wavering senators Friday. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) said "resolutions are flying like snowflakes around here," and it appeared Democrats would no longer be able to garner a majority for a symbolic statement against the New Way Forward in Iraq. But somehow, just a day later Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) had agreed to some concessions and Democrats had agreed to language assuring the protection of funding for the troops.
In the 50-49 Senate, Reid and the Democrats made a wise choice by conceding the political point on war funds. Cutting funds may be a rallying cry of their base, but given the political peril it could bring, the subject is more rhetoric than reality.
On Tuesday Republicans were splintering; some allied with Democrats opposed to President Bush's troop increase, and others lined up behind Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to try to stop the bipartisan rebuke. Plans were made for Bush to meet with some wavering senators Friday. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) said "resolutions are flying like snowflakes around here," and it appeared Democrats would no longer be able to garner a majority for a symbolic statement against the New Way Forward in Iraq. But somehow, just a day later Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) had agreed to some concessions and Democrats had agreed to language assuring the protection of funding for the troops.
In the 50-49 Senate, Reid and the Democrats made a wise choice by conceding the political point on war funds. Cutting funds may be a rallying cry of their base, but given the political peril it could bring, the subject is more rhetoric than reality.
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