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By Lynn Sweet
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Posted: 05/10/07 06:27 PM [ET] |
As House Democratic leaders whipped their compromise on Iraq and Afghanistan war funding on Wednesday, Democratic White House candidate former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) put out a statement saying the deal is a sell-out.
A House vote is set for today on a bill White House press secretary Tony Snow said is headed towards a veto. Still, House Democratic Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) is running an all-hands-on deck whipping operation for the reworked legislation.
The recast House bill gives Bush half the money he wants — with the provisos that the Iraqi government meet certain goals and another congressional vote be held in July.
Bush vetoed the first $43 billion plan Congress sent him because it had strings attached aimed at setting a timetable for bringing U.S. soldiers home. The House Democrats passed that bill on a 218-212 roll call with 14 Democrats jumping off to the no column — seven conservatives and seven progressives. It will be a challenge for leadership to win approval for the compromise bill today.
Hardcore whipping could not start until Tuesday night, when there was an actual bill. That’s a short window, but the matter has been debated for months and the legislation does have Katrina relief money. Still, that’s not a lot of time to forge a majority, especially since so many progressives are skeptical of a bill that may be viewed as high on money and low on mandates to withdraw troops.
Clyburn dispatched his 24 regional whips on Tuesday evening — via e-mails and phone calls — and was set to huddle with his senior whips Wednesday afternoon, one of a series of meetings with his whip team and other House leaders. He keeps tabs of the votes on a spreadsheet produced by his floor staff that is used to help decide which reluctant Democrats get a personal call from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) or the other leaders.
Edwards’s shout-out to the left probably does not help.
“This is not a compromise; it is a concession. This proposal may not give George Bush all the money he wants, but it gives him all the money he needs to continue his surge and keep the war going. The Pentagon’s latest announcement is just more evidence that it’s full steam ahead for the president,” Edward said in a statement.
Edwards is running against Congress, and his strong opposition to the compromise seems designed to put 2008 Democratic rivals Sens. Barack Obama (Ill.), Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), Joseph Biden (Del.) and Chris Dodd (Conn.) on the spot. Obama’s strategy has been to press to find enough Senate votes to override a Bush veto on a phased withdrawal bill.
Edwards became even more impassioned after Snow delivered the latest veto threat. “The president has just demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that he cannot be negotiated with, he cannot be compromised with,” he said. “There is only one way to stop him — Congress must cut off funds to prolong the war.”
Will the Democratic presidential hopefuls go along with the leadership and vote for a compromise? The hard left in the Democratic Party — those who are often the most active in primary elections, and with loud voices on the blogosphere — will have to be sold on this deal.
Sweet is the Washington bureau chief for the Chicago Sun-Times. E-mail:
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