Blue Dogs Promise: We Won't Roll Over THIS Time
As Battle with Democratic Leaders Over Troop Funding Bill Escalates, Key Blue Dog Admits: "Absolutely It's a Test for the Blue Dogs"
Washington,
May 12, 2008 -
House Democratic leaders hope to bring the long-delayed troop funding bill to the floor this week, but first they must end the leaders’ ongoing dispute with Blue Dog Democrats over their plan to load up the measure with billions in unrelated Washington spending and language that would order our troops to withdraw precipitously after defeat, rather than success. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) suffered an embarrassing blow last week when Members of their own party derailed the spending bill just as it was about to make its way to the House floor. The Blue Dogs are rebelling over their leaders’ refusal to comply with House “pay-as-you-go” rules to offset any new spending with corresponding spending cuts or tax hikes.
Today’s Newport News Daily Press has the latest on this escalating battle within the Democratic ranks:
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“The Democrats’ guns-and-butter legislative strategy was derailed last week – at least temporarily – by fellow Democrats.”
“Conservative, mostly Southern House Democrats – know as the ‘Blue Dogs’ – stunned their party leadership by vowing to oppose the veterans' education benefits included in the war supplemental financing bill."
“The Blue Dogs complained the House hadn’t identified any way to pay for the new benefits, either through spending cuts or tax increases, as required by pay-as-you-go rules imposed by House Democrats when they took power early last year. ‘I’ve never seen the Blue Dogs this unified, this upset,’ said Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn. and a Blue Dog member, in an interview with Congressional Quarterly.”
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Both Democratic leaders and the Blue Dogs have plenty at stake in this intraparty squabble. The leaders desperately want to save face after attempting to ram the bloated appropriations bill through the House, while the Blue Dogs say they won’t “roll over” this time after failing to back-up their rhetoric in previous fights. In fact, The Hill recently ran a story accusing the Blue Dogs of being on Majority Leader Hoyer’s “leash” because they failed to hold their leaders accountable when they refused to schedule a vote on the bipartisan, Senate-passed Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) bill – in spite of the Blue Dogs’ ongoing calls for one. So, do the Blue Dogs have the will to ramp up pressure on their party leaders this time, or will Democratic leaders tug on the leash again and force the Blue Dogs to obey? Roll Call examines that question this morning:
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“[The Blue Dogs] say they are done rolling over.”
“They will have a chance to show their pedigree this week when they have to choose whether to vote the fiscally conservative line and force Democratic leaders to either pay for a $52 billion new entitlement for veterans with spending cuts or revenue increases or rip it from the war supplemental.”
“‘Absolutely it’s a test for the Blue Dogs,’ said Blue Dog co-Chairman Mike Ross (D-Ark.). ‘If we allow a mandatory program into the supplemental for the sole purpose of waiving PAYGO rules, then we will have lost our way…’”
“Blue Dogs complained that leadership hadn’t properly vetted the proposal.”
“‘We were blindsided by this,’ Cooper said.”
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Speaker Pelosi and Leader Hoyer could end this insurrection by simply scheduling a clean troop funding bill for a House vote, rather than forcing Members to vote on the bloated version that breaks House rules and asks our troops to shoulder the burden of billions in unrelated Washington spending. Ending the Democratic infighting in this way wouldn’t be the only advantage of bringing a clean troop funding bill to the floor. Most importantly of all, sending President Bush a clean bill that gives our military all the resources it needs to continue defeating our enemies also would ensure our troops don’t run out of funding when they need it most. Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently warned that our troops will soon run out of funding if Congress does not act by Memorial Day.
The American people – and our men and women in harm’s way, in particular – are right to wonder how much longer the Democrats’ fighting will continue. When will Democrats finally act responsibly by scheduling a vote on a clean troop funding bill that isn’t bogged down by petty political games?
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