Reaction to war funding bill veto

Posted at 7:13 AM on May 2, 2007 by Mike Mulcahy (1 Comments)

MPR has been trying for several days to interview Sen. Norm Coleman about the latest developments in the debate over the war in Iraq. For several days Coleman has declined. His office put out this statement after the president vetoed the $124 billion war spending bill Tuesday:

With today’s veto of the supplemental funding bill, we will have another opportunity to send a bill to the President’s desk that will provide our troops with the funding they desperately need. While I agree we need to continue pressuring the Iraqi government to take over more responsibility of Iraq’s security, I am opposed to arbitrary deadlines for surrender. I sincerely hope that my colleagues will stop playing politics with our troops’ resources and work together to pass a bill that does not condition critical funding for our forces on a timeline for withdrawal.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar talked to MPR this morning. Among other things she said this about the president:

We will see what he has to say, but I truly believe the ball is in his court now. We have pushed and we will continue to push. We’ve had 58 oversight hearings in the first 100 days, and I personally asked him to bring the Minnesota National Guard and Reserve home when they’re supposed to get home. They were supposed to get home in January, now it’s August—these troops are doing everything they’re supposed to do for us. They deposed an evil dictator and they have guaranteed free elections in Iraq and now it’s time in a thoughtful way to and a careful way to start bringing them home.

Comments (1)

Is it appropriate to, in one breath, criticize 'arbitrary deadlines for surrender' and in the next, call for people to stop playing politics?

Posted by bsimon | May 2, 2007 2:08 PM

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