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(Received the news via a Gray Panther Action Alert! Confirmed via google news.)
A report from a Democrat-leaning organization’s announcement: “I wanted to share some breaking news. The House of Representatives just voted 149 to 141 to cut off funding for the war in Iraq.”
from
Free Internet Press
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2008-05-16 10:12:34 (41 minutes ago)
An unusual coalition of antiwar Democrats and angry Republicans in the House Thursday torpedoed a $162.5 billion proposal to continue funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan into next year, eliminating, for now, the one part of the controversial bill that had seemed certain to pass.
Instead, House members voted to demand troop withdrawals from Iraq, force the Iraqi government to shoulder more war costs and greatly expand the education benefits for returning veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflict.
The surprise on war-funding left antiwar activists on and off Capitol Hill exultant and Democratic leaders baffled…
The measure would have brought the total cost of the wars since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to $752 billion, a figure that exceeds the cost of any U.S. war since World War II. Of that, $660 billion – about the cost in today’s dollars of World War I, the Korean War, the Civil War and the Gulf War combined – has gone to Iraq, according to the Congressional Research Service…
As approved, the House bill would require the United States to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq within 30 days, with a goal of removing all combat forces by December 2009. The Iraqi government would have to match U.S. reconstruction funding, dollar for dollar, and would be required to offer the U.S. military the same fuel subsidies it provides its own citizens….
Full story here.
Filed under: Anti-War, democrat, Iraq, More Events Calendars, News, Peace, progressive politics, US Politics, war Tagged: | democrat
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