A Blog Called Hope

Senate Republicans are apparently back to their old, dirty tricks again. This today from the Washington Post:

The Senate today shelved a measure that would have required the withdrawal of most U.S. troops from Iraq within nine months, the latest in a series of defeats this week for Democratic-sponsored provisions that sought to restrict the Bush administration’s Iraq war policy.

The vote on the measure, an amendment to the 2008 defense authorization bill, was 47 to 47. That was 13 votes short of the 60-vote threshold the amendment needed because of the inherent threat of a Republican filibuster.

The Republican’s efforts didn’t sit well with Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, who just released the following statement:

“I share Rhode Islanders’ frustration at President Bush’s failure to change course in Iraq. That’s why I’ve voted for every measure that would put pressure on the President to redeploy our troops and seek a new direction. It’s time – long past time – for our troops to come home.

“I’m proud that Rhode Island’s own Jack Reed is among the leaders of our fight. His amendment today would have set a smart, responsible strategy to safely redeploy American troops – but once again, the Republican minority in the Senate has used Senate rules to block the way.

“We face a simple question: is it in the long-term best interests of our nation for American troops to remain in Iraq? Americans have overwhelmingly answered no. I will keep fighting to bring our troops home safely, and bring them home soon.”

This entry was posted on Friday, September 21st, 2007 at 1:43 pm and is filed under Federal Delegation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.