Senate Dems lose bid to criticize handling of Iraq war
Republican appropriator wins ruling that amendment was not germane to Defense spending bill.
Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, successfully thwarted a vote Wednesday on a Democratic amendment to the fiscal 2007 Defense appropriations bill that sharply criticized the Bush administration's handling of the war in Iraq and called on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign.
Stevens raised a point of order against the amendment, which contained non-binding "sense of the Senate" language, and won a ruling that it was not germane to the $468.4 billion appropriations measure.
A vote on the amendment, which was expected to fail largely along party lines, could have allowed Democrats to present a united front against the increasingly unpopular war in Iraq, attack Rumsfeld and also force a possible split among Republicans over a volatile election-year issue just two months before voters go to the polls.
But despite the scuttled vote on the amendment, Democrats commanded the Senate floor much of Wednesday afternoon, using the amendment to rebuke the Bush administration for what the minority party argued are failed policies on Iraq that have left that country less stable and have threatened American security.
"With weekly attacks against American and Iraqi troops at their highest levels since the start of the war, and sectarian violence intensifying, it is clear that staying the course in Iraq is not a strategy for success," said the text of the amendment, which was sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
One by one, more than a dozen Democratic senators took the floor during a several-hour exchange with Republicans, arguing that Rumsfeld should be held accountable for the current state of affairs in Iraq.
"This Congress has abdicated its constitutional responsibility to conduct oversight and hold the administration accountable for the decisions it has made over the course of the last five years," said Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y. "Absolute power not only corrupts, but it can lead to bad decisions."
Senate Republicans jumped into the fray, accusing their Democratic colleagues of grandstanding before the November elections to solidify the Democratic base and draw independent voters opposed to the war in Iraq.
Even Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, an outspoken Pentagon critic, sided with his fellow GOP senators, saying it is up to the president to select his Cabinet. "The president should be able to keep that team until such times as the president of the United States loses confidence in that team," McCain said.
"What is their point?" asked Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who accused Democrats of not offering an alternative plan to changing the situation in Iraq. "Is it merely to score political points, or is it actually to change what is happening in the ongoing global war on terror?"
Senate Budget Chairman Judd Gregg, R-N.H., likewise argued that the amendment was a hollow political maneuver. "Who are they going to replace Donald Rumsfeld with?" Gregg asked. "Howard Dean? Ned Lamont?"
Greta Wodele contributed to this report.