On Monday, we heard from a member of Congress who was demoralized because fellow anti-war Democrats felt they had no choice but to abandon their 2007 pledge to vote against any war funding that did not include troop withdrawal, just so the Blue Dogs could have cover for their IMF votes.
A bill to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has turned into a major legislative challenge on Capitol Hill, as members press President Obama from the left and the right on a number of fronts: the logistics of closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, the release of photos showing abuse of detainees and a proposed loan to the International Monetary Fund.
The vote on the bill was delayed last week, and House Democratic aides said yesterday they are still trying to round up enough votes to pass the provision. The bill, which costs about $100 billion, would fund the wars through September.
Hats off to Harry Reid. If he hadn’t punted Graham-Lieberman to the House in a stealth move that nobody understood until the last minute, there probably wouldn’t have been enough opposition to keep the bill from passing initially. But outrage over the photos gave anti-war activists time to organize and start calling their members of Congress, while CEPR on the left and Red State on the right both began lobbying against the IMF bailout.
The supplemental and the IMF need to be severed. We need to have an honest conversation about the IMF that we can’t have now because everyone is focused on funding the war. If you missed Mark Weisbrott’s post on the European bank bailout, it’s having a big impact on the Hill. The IMF funds, contrary to what’s being said, won’t assist poor countries — they’ll bail out the bad decisions of European banks.
Shorter version: the calls are working. We have an updated chart, so keep ‘em coming.
Related posts:
- Rahm’s Whipping on the Afghanistan War Supplemental — Will You?
- Liveblogging the Supplemental: Supplemental Liveblog
- Speak Out: Write Letters To Your Local Papers and Urge Members of Congress to Vote “No” On Supplemental
- “Funding the Fund”… or Not: Debunking WaPo’s Pro-Supplemental Editorial
- Nadler Won’t Vote for the Supplemental: 10 Down, 29 to Go
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wooHoo!
Great job Jane.
And good morning Elliot.
There have been thousands of calls and emails placed into offices. They are having a real effect.
The white house is now trying to add progressive “sweeteners” (like Cash for Clunkers) to the bill to draw progressive votes, which is weird in itself. Suddenly, for the first time, progressives are in a position of power and can negotiate.
They didn’t have that power before they organized, which they explicitly didn’t do until people started calling.
Good Morning Jane and Pups.
Thanks to ALL!
Where’s my manners, good morning to Jane and all pups.
Good morning, everyone.
MM I was just showing my best friend from high school my red hat the other day. I just love it & still wear it all the time.
This is good confirmation that Rahm can’t ”force” anyone to do what he wants. Now that we’ve acknowledged that, it will be easier to hold our representatives accountable.
If my Rep is not on the list, i should call anyway, right?
…(John Olver, MA)
I called my Blue Dog and pressed him on the IMF part. I think there could be real traction there, maybe a letter to the editor would be in order just so he can’t pretend that part isn’t in the bill.
Glad to hear it. It fun, fresh and portable. The perfect hat for a digital age.
please excuse the OT, hearing just starting now: Single Payer Universal Healthcare Gets a Hearing Today at 10:30am
i just loves me some self determined Jane in the mornin,its better than…a double expresso
YES WE WILL
Jane, you’ve done fantastic work on this. Thanks especially for the frequent updates. This story is changing extremely rapidly and you have been THE source for breaking news on it.
Somewhat related: Joe and Lindsey throw a Tantrum for Torture.
Jane,
Thank you so, so much for all your work on this issue and the call for action by FDL!
Thank you.
I agree that it’s good to focus on the arguments that are most likely to work, so if you are calling a Blue Dog, opening with the IMF makes sense.
But I would still press on the pictures – let them know that there are costs to supporting it, and that those other members who are talking about that issue are under pressure as well.
So, the war funding is still a given if the other crap is eliminated or is the cash for scrap heaps offer the clincher and everything stays? Or maybe someone will make shit up about a timeline for the complete withdrawal of troops? That’s worked before, what a few years ago? When will Lucy finally get her hands on the pigskin?
morning you!
Thanks for the reminder, Selise. I forgot.
I am so out of it that it just sank in that the IMF funding is part of the supplemental. That is absurd and beyond the whole purpose of the supplemental. Unfortunately Obama agreed to that additional funding on his European tour so the European leaders will probably be watching closely if he can pull it through.
Lacy will vote against it. I am not worried.
Single Payer ? That’ll never work !
*ducks and runs*
G’morning Jane and Congrats on the effort … keep calling folks, call as many Congresscritters as you can !
Wonder how the Congress and the WH feel about the progressive community now? Whoops !
Jane, maybe it’s the hopeless naive dummy in me, but I feel better seeing your kudos to Reid for appearing to do something right for a change (punting to the House).
This whole thing may yet come down around liarman’s and huckleberry’s ears, and the mcconnell/sessions crowd et al., like an old dank musty blanket. Their obstruction just for the sake of petty ego issues should have no place in the scheme of government in such serious times. Too many people hurting and failing. They need help, not boastful medieval jousting.
Call ‘em all.
That list is constructed because there are people who will be taking very inconsistent votes if they switch their positions now, so people who have supported them over the years — from within their districts and without — have a solid argument when they call them.
But it’s a bad bill all around for all the reasons outlined above, and I just spoke with someone on the Hill who says they don’t have the votes. It’ll probably get pushed til next week, but I’m still shaking my head that it has worked and progressives have power.
I’m hoping they can leverage it to get something meaningful, and “cash for clunkers” is chump change.
victory is good, but victory with grace is golden…. ;->
Thanks for the clarification. I’ve necessarily been in & out, trying vainly to keep up, and then our signal went out for awhile. arrrggghhh.
Does anyone know how Boccieri (D-OH) comes down on this?
I would only be guessing on this explanation Adie, but I haven’t heard anything that dissuades me from believing that it’s true:
Reid would not have done that without permission from the white house. True he didn’t want to have a war in the Senate over it, so it was win-win for him. But I think Rahm got cute and included something he could deal “out” to get House progressives on board, knowing that there might be a battle to get them to sign on to the supplemental.
Which was why we never focused on it that much, because getting them out was never going to be a true “win.” To be sure, if nobody had raised the alarm it would have gone through — it’s certainly something the administration wants — but Joe Lieberman will keep offering it up again and again, so it’s not like this is the last chance. Give Barney Frank props on that, he stepped out in front and led the battle. He didn’t have to.
But what they really want is the IMF. And as of this morning they’re losing Blue Dogs over it. We got in there early and leveraged anti-war sentiment, which we probably would not have had sufficient time to do without the photos. So quite honestly, it was win-win for us too, but not because anyone responsible intended that.
Ask when you call!
thanks
Thanks much Jane. Apologies for being so grossly ill informed on this. Timing is horrible for us. We HAVE to be out of this house ASAP and it’s not even on the market yet. I know. Shame on me for choosing family over the Lake as my focus for a few weeks. I’ll do my homework once we get out of here. I have no other choice at the moment.
Good luck and dog speed, Pups!
Wow! Who knew that the spinelessness of Harry Reid would work FOR us for a change?
Is Harry Reid really an ally? Was this “stealth move” really to try to kill the Amendment? These are honest questions, and not snarky rhetoric.
Also, couldn’t he have just kept the amendment off the bill in the first place? Isn’t there some parliamentary trick he could have used in the Senate in the first place?