GRITtv:
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GRITtv:
Well, on Tuesday a strange configuration of allies and mixed motives could actually lead to the first time a supplemental war funding bill fails to pass in Congress. What?s on the floor is $100 billion to fund the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan?What?s different this time round is that included in this funding legislation - at the request of the Treasury Department - is $5 billion to bailout European banks through the International Monetary Fund (the IMF)? an international version of the Wall Street bailout if you like. Banks in trouble due to losses in Eastern Europe would receive taxpayer loans with no strings attached. It is that section which puts us at this unique juncture because House Republicans have pledged to vote 'no' on war funding with the IMF money attached. Thanks to the GOP opposition, it will take just 39 progressive Democrats to defeat the supplemental. Down goes the strings-free continuation of war in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan and down goes the conditions-free bailing out of banks. A coalition of anti-poverty organizations - including the AFL-CIO, the anti-poverty advocacy group RESULTS, the AIDS treatment advocacy group Health GAP, and the debt-forgiveness group Jubilee USA Network - have demanded that Congress attach conditions to the IMF funding. The Treasury insists that Congress is not in the business of demanding oversight and accountability at the IMF. 34 House progressives have committed to vote against the supplemental funding bill ? most looking for a condition that the Pentagon report to Congress on an exit strategy from Afghanistan. Sadly, the Democratic leadership opposes this position and insiders say new freshmen are being threatened if they don?t vote yes. Five more votes are needed: A 'no' to blanket war spending ? and a 'no' to the next load of bailouts; the use of congressional power over the purse for peace and better governance -- that sounds like Change We Can Believe In. It even has a ring to it.
Blip | June 15, 2009
