This morning the House approved a non-binding resolution “that effectively endorses President Bush’s war policy and rejects setting a date for the withdrawal of U.S. forces” from Iraq, writes William Branigin at WaPo.
The nonbinding resolution, which declares “that the United States will prevail in the Global War on Terror,” passed by a vote of 256 to 153, with five lawmakers voting “present” and 19 others not participating. Forty-two Democrats sided with 214 Republicans in supporting the measure. Three Republicans and one independent joined 149 Democrats in voting against it.
Curious about which House Dems are still providing butt cover for Bush, I combed through this list of how House members voted and pulled out Democrats who voted yes; also noted are Dems who were present but didn’t vote and those who were absent. Any Dem congress critters not on this list voted no.
AL Cramer
AR Berry, Ross, Snyder
CA Berman, Cardoza, Costa (Sherman was present but did not vote. Waxman was absent.)
CO Salazar
FL (Boyd was present but did not vote.)
GA Barrow, Bishop, Marshall
HI Case
IL Bean, Costello, Lipinski (Evans and Butierrez were absent.)
IA Boxwell
KS Moore
KY Chandler
LA Melancon
MA Lynch
MI (Dingell and Kilpatrick were absent)
MN Peterson
MS Taylor, Thompson
MO (Cleaver was absent)
NY Higgins, McCarthy (Bishop was absent)
NC Etheridge, McIntyre
OK Boren
PA Holden
SC Spratt
SD Herseth
TN Cooper, Davis, Gordon
TX Cuellar, Edwards, G. Green
UT Matheson
VA Boucher
WA Larsen, Smith
WI Kind
The Republicans who voted no were Leach of Iowa, Duncan of Tennessee, and Paul of Texas. Sanders of Vermont, an Independent, voted no.
In a 256-153 vote that mirrored the position taken by the Senate earlier, the GOP-led House approved a nonbinding resolution that praises U.S. troops, labels the Iraq war part of the larger global fight against terrorism and says an “arbitrary date for the withdrawal or redeployment” of troops is not in the national interest.
“Retreat is not an option in Iraq,” declared House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio. “Achieving victory is our only option … We have no choice but to confront these terrorists, win the war on terror and spread freedom and democracy around the world.”
I see Boehner still believes in the Good Democracy Fairy.
Balking carried a risk for Democrats, particularly when they see an opportunity to win back control of Congress from the GOP. Republicans likely will use Democratic “no” votes to claim that their opponents don’t support U.S. troops.
The most recent polls still say a big majority of Americans — 61 percent in the latest CBS News poll — disapprove of the way Bush is handling the war. Yet voting for “staying the course” is the “safe” vote, and votes that reflect the opinion of a big majority of Americans is a “risky” vote. This suggests the Good Democracy Fairy needs to spend some time in Washington. Along with the Accuracy and Fairness in Media Fairy.
Some GOP incumbents who face tough challenges from Democrats in November issued qualified support for the measure while criticizing the GOP-led Congress.
“The American people are looking to us to answer their questions on how much progress is being made, what are the Iraqis themselves willing to do to fight for their freedom and when will our men and women come home,” Rep. Jim Gerlach, R-Pennsylvania, said before voting in favor of the resolution.
Like I said in the post title — resolve has nothing to do with this.
The House vote comes one day after the Senate soundly rejected a call to withdraw combat troops by year’s end by shelving a proposal that would allow “only forces that are critical to completing the mission of standing up Iraqi security forces” to remain in Iraq in 2007.
That vote was 93-6, but Democrats assailed the GOP maneuver that led to the vote as political gamesmanship and promised further debate next week on a proposal to start redeploying troops this year.
Wake me up when the Senate gets some real resolve.