[Ufpj-congress] Next step for Iraq Funding?
From:
Sent: Wed 6/25/08 10:37 AM
The next stop for the Iraq funding bill will be Bush’s desk — NOT the Senate!
The Iraq funding bill this year has been subject to a lot of unusual (to say the least) procedural shenanigans. It seems that the leadership of both parties in the Congress, as well as the White House all agreed on the procedures to ensure that the Iraq funding bill would pass, as well as the domestic spending initiatives. They sure didn’t consult with us, nor did they explain how the procedures worked.
Well, it seems that the way they did it — through two separate amendments — means that the Iraq funding bill will NOT go back to the Senate for a vote.
The House last week passed the Iraq funding amendment that was identical to the amendment that the Senate had already passed.
The House did lower the amount of Iraq funding by a few billion dollars, but they did that by adding language to the domestic spending amendment — leaving the Senate version of the Iraq funding amendment intact…. The outcome is that the Senate will have to vote only on the domestic amendment.
Our understanding is that once the domestic amendment passes the Senate (probably this week), the whole package will go to Bush and he is expected to sign it.
~ Sue Udry
UFPJ legislative coordinator