Getting Our Hopes Up Again

It seems that Congress is following through on the threat Democrats hinted at in last week's rushed vote on Mukasey. Both houses are pushing through Iraq war funding measures that include provisions for starting to withdraw troops. Last week, Congress passed bills for funding the Pentagon in general, which the Prez signed yesterday (although he vetoed a domestic spending bill in the same signing session). That protected both the Senate and the House to hold a vote on Iraq money tied to troop withdrawal with some protection from the accusation that they don't support the troops (not that this means that charge won't be leveled against them).

So now they've actually followed through and introduced that bill. The House wasted no time in passing their version 218-203 today. For their part, the Senate is considering the idea that if Republicans want to filibuster the bill (and you know they do), then they should be required to actually, you know, filibuster. Majority Whip Dick Durbin sent up a trial balloon this morning, pointing out what we all could see: that this is a good way to get attention. It would certainly make it clearer to anybody not paying close attention that the Republicans are actively seeking to thwart the will of the American people by keeping the fighting going in Iraq. Republicans, no surprisingly, are presenting their own bravado front, claiming to look forward to such an eventuality. Arizona's Jon Kyle said:

Republicans, I think, would not at all be unwilling to talk about the necessity of supporting the troops by giving them the funding necessary to carry out their mission. If Democrats are going to force us to talk about that, I think they'll find a very willing partner in talking about it.

Sure, Republicans would get to fill their time with whatever they wanted to fill it with, but if Democrats played their cards right, the focus could remain on the Republicans desire to thwart any kind of troop withdrawal. Democrats would have to stand their ground, of course, and flinching or caving completely after a Republican filibuster would harm them immeasurably more than just giving up on the whole idea right now.