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A growing number of Senate Republicans are preparing to break from President Bush on an emergency war-spending bill.
It is the latest in a series of fights that demonstrate GOP willingness to look ahead to the next administration while ignoring the one still in office.
Recognizing that the emergency measure will probably be the only spending bill approved before the November elections, many Republican senators say they are willing to add billions of dollars in domestic spending because the sagging economy is dominating the minds of voters.
Bush has firmly stated he would veto such a measure.
Senate Republican leaders are not confident they have the votes to sustain a filibuster if the bill includes some domestic spending without including timetables on withdrawing troops. Instead, they hope to derail it by letting it pass the chamber and then mustering enough votes to sustain a veto.
“At this point that’s probably going to be the more challenging in terms of determining where the Republican members are going to come down,” Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chief deputy whip, said of domestic spending in the Iraq bill.
“Obviously, this is a train that is leaving the station,” said Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho), who sits on the Appropriations Committee. “It’s going to have a lot of pressure on it, and therefore [there is] a lot of pressure on the president.”
Having largely stood with Bush during the past seven years, Senate Republicans have started to break with the lame-duck president and focus on pushing through measures they could tout to their voters.
On Tuesday, 46 Republicans voted with a united Democratic Caucus to suspend oil shipments to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, siding with their presumptive nominee, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and defying Bush, who is strongly opposed. Later this week, Republicans are expected to break from Bush again, and also defy McCain, to support a farm bill that is projected to cost around $600 billion over 10 years, possibly giving supporters enough votes to override another expected veto.
This comes as House Republicans are also moving away from Bush.
Thirty-nine GOP members, many targeted by Democrats this year, voted for Rep. Barney Frank’s (D-Mass.) housing bill last week. And 128 House Republicans in April voted to halt implementation of the Bush administration’s controversial Medicaid regulations.
A GOP lobbyist said campaign consultants are advising Republicans in tough races to start finding areas to break away from the White House and their congressional leaders.
The emergency supplemental bill will further test that loyalty to Bush. The White House has called on Congress to provide a clean emergency supplemental focused narrowly on the funding needs for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bush asked for $178 billion through the first part of next year.
White House Press Secretary Dana Perino says that Congress should take up the domestic measures separately.
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