Dave Obey On Bush's Press Conference

The Gavel

Chairman Obey on President Bush’s Press Conference

April 4th, 2007 by Jesse Lee

Today, Appropriations Committee Chairman Dave Obey made the following remarks at a public forum at the University of Wisconsin in response to the President’s attack on Congressional Democrats yesterday:

“The President is crying crocodile tears about the fact that the Congress has not yet passed his take-it-or-leave-it spending request for the Iraq war. The President said we left Washington without finishing our work, complaining that it has taken us 57 days to process his ‘my way or no way’ request. Let me remind the President that last year, the Republican Congress took 118 days to pass his supplemental request. Further, let me remind the President that his Republican party in Congress left Washington for the year without finishing their work on the entire $463.5 billion domestic budget. If we had not had to spend the first month of this new session finishing the work they should have done last year, we might have had more time to turn to the President’s ‘my way or no way’ request, but we first had to clean up their last year’s leftovers.

“The President needs to stop his huffing and puffing and recognize that he is no longer dealing with a rubber stamp Congress. There must be compromise. We have already adjusted our proposal by giving him a waiver on troop readiness. When are we going to hear any talk of reasonable compromise from him?

“As usual the President is trying to govern by dividing rather than uniting. That is why his Presidency is in such disarray. When will he ever learn?

“The President is simply thrashing out as a diversionary tactic to obscure the fact that he has no viable policy in Iraq or in the entire Middle East for that matter. We need to come together to fashion such a policy.”

 

Tags: Dave Obey Bush Democrats

John Murtha On Bush's Press Conference

Rep. Murtha on President Bush’s Press Conference

April 4th, 2007 by Jesse Lee

Appropriations Defense Subcommittee Chairman John Murtha:

“I have just been informed that the 4th Infantry Division is preparing to deploy to Iraq with only eight months at home and without the appropriate training. This is unacceptable.

“The stress on our military due to the manner in which the President has waged the war in Iraq is no longer tolerable. Due to continuous and extended deployments to Iraq, our military is running out of troops and equipment and is being forced to abandon its own rotation and deployment guidelines in order to sustain the President’s war plan.

“In short, our military has been forced to do too much with too little.

“Our military readiness has deteriorated to levels not seen since Vietnam and our ability to fight future threats is severely compromised. Yet the President refuses to address this most vital issue.

“In reaction to the disastrous manner in which the President has run the war, Congress passed the Iraq Accountability Act in both houses. This bill provides resources to address the readiness problem, puts the onus on the Iraqi Government to internally solve its own civil war and provides the beginnings of a safe and responsible return of our United States forces from Iraq.

“The Constitution expressly places the power ‘to raise and support Armies,’ and ‘to provide and maintain a Navy’ with Congress. It is, therefore, Congress’ responsibility to raise the revenues for our military and to determine in what manner and by what means they shall be spent.

“For four years, the President has been waging a war without end and without accountability. The Iraq Accountability Act expresses the sentiment of the Congress and the majority of the American people who say it’s time for a plan to safely and responsibly end the war.”

Tags: John Murtha Bush U.S. troops Iraq