WASHINGTON – A revised Senate resolution criticizing President Bush’s troop buildup in Iraq, offered by Senator John Warner, Republican of Virginia, drew new support today as two of the authors of a sterner resolution of disapproval said they would accept the Warner compromise.
Senators Joseph R. Biden, Democrat of Delaware, and Chuck Hagel, Republican of Nebraska, said they would back Mr. Warner’s new wording, which among other changes removed language that Democrats saw as creating a potential loophole.
“The bottom line of our resolutions is the same: Mr. President, don’t send more Americans into the middle of civil war,” said Mr. Biden, one of the authors of the resolution that was approved last week by the Foreign Relations Committee, which he chairs.
Senator Carl Levin, Democrat of Michigan and chairman of the Armed Services Committee, was the third author of that plan; on Wednesday night he had agreed to support Mr. Warner, the ranking Republican on that committee.
The Democratic leadership of the Senate now intends to use Mr. Warner’s proposal, co-sponsored by Senators Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, and Ben Nelson, Democrat of Nebraska, as the basis for the debate that will unfold next week, though Republicans could still raise procedural obstacles.
The Senate Republicans are stuck between a rock and a hard place. President Bush is going to send more American troops into Iraq, whether the Democrats or Republicans approve of such a measure or not. The American public is fully against the surge, as it has been reported in numerous public opinion polls. There is a huge conflict facing the Senate Republicans here between Bush's stubbornness on escalating the war and the American public's desire to get out of Iraq. There is no way the Senate Republicans will adopt any of the sterner Democratic Party measures--especially any measures calling for Congress to cut funding for the Iraq war. But the longer the Senate Republicans drag their feet in opposing any resolution criticizing President Bush's troop surge, the greater the chance that these Senate Republicans will be tarred to this Bush war--especially if the war gets even worst during the 2008 elections. So the Senate Republicans have their own political futures to consider, unlike President Bush, who is relegated to a lame duck status, and is using this troop surge to protect whatever presidential "legacy" he may have, before tossing the entire Iraq mess to his successor. The Warner resolution is less critical than the Biden-Hagel-Levin resolution, which was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The Democrats are certainly willing to adopt the Warner resolution for now, since this opens up a debate in the Senate on the Bush troop surge, and it will put the Republicans on record as to whether they support or oppose the Bush escalation of the war. The Warner resolution also places President Bush on notice that he is going to have to deal with Congress as a co-equal branch of government, rather than as a rubber-stamp as the Bush White House, and Republican Party, has been doing for the past six years. This resolution even gives some short-term cover for the Senate Republicans to criticize the Bush White House without any major political damage.
The problem is that this resolution is a disaster for both President Bush and the Republican Party. President Bush has insisted on escalating the Iraq war, no matter what Congress says. Bush has been the spokesman for the Republican Party for the past six years. The Republican-controlled Congress dutifully followed the Bush administration over the election cliff, without any criticism. Now the Democrats are not only forcing such criticism, but also Congress' role in the checks and balances of our government. The Warner resolution is just an opening shot across the bow of this sinking Bush presidency. The president will certainly ignore this resolution, even as the Senate Republican leaders are trying to mount any resistance to the Bush escalation plan. Senate Republicans are going to have to face a choice between following the Republican line of supporting the president, or facing an election wrath by the American voters next year. And this resolution really doesn't have any teeth--if the Warner resolution is going to be this nasty, just imagine what the debate will be once the Democrats start introducing legislation to cut funding for this Bush war. If such meaty resolutions ever get to the floor of the Senate, it could cause even greater conflicts between the Republican Party, especially as the war continues to sour and the American people start supporting legislation for cutting funding to the Iraq war.
Of course, this is all speculation at the moment. But it is a serious problem for the Republican Party.
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