Congress Must Exercise Power of the Purse

Posted on February 27, 2007
| buzz-it! | Huff it!

The old saw “Power of the Purse” takes on new meaning as a woman controls the gavel in the house. Now that she’s busted up that nasty “marble ceiling” maybe Mrs. Pelosi can take her gavel or her purse an bust up some Republican war-mongering while she’s still swinging.

This week Sen. Byrd’s Appropriations Committee takes up the administration’s $100 Billion Emergency Supplemental budget request to continue waging war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Jack Murtha will manage the request in the House. This follows on the heels of a supplemental for $70 Billion passed in September.

Our new Democratic majorities have already learned that the Republicans are willing to create gridlock against all reason to protect the president’s murderous adventure in Iraq. The Democrats have tried to pass legislation to set a new course, starting with the mildest resolution only seeking consensus that the congress does not agree with a troop escalation. The Republicans in the Senate blocked the discussion before any vote could be taken.

Clearly seeking consensus in such a divided Congress is impossible with folks on the other end of the avenue still somehow able to exert pressure on enough members to work against all moral and patriotic efforts to repair the damage of the last 4 years.

The fact that the war has been financed on Supplementals and debt, all outside the federal budget, actually gives the Democrats more power to restrict funding. Now the administration has to walk down Pennsylvania Ave., hat in hand, and ask for and justify the funds to continue their aggression.

Congresspersons, Senators: This is your chance and perhaps your only chance to turn around the greatest foreign policy error in American history. We do not have to fund the president’s escalation. You can restrict funds—Hell, there ARE no funds—for any action that is not directly aimed at getting our people out of there and protecting the innocent.

Clearly, we have obligations in Iraq and Afghanistan, but we have no obligation to participate in a sectarian war, and we certainly have no obligation to secure Iraq’s oil. There has to be funds to get our military and civilians out of harm’s way, but no obligation to enrich contractors selected and hired without proper procedure or oversight.

I suppose the way to do it will not be one huge bill that appropriates money for some things but not others. The Republicans will block that bill—just as they block whatever they’re told— and then blame the Democrats for cutting off funds to our troops. Congress will have to do the work to break the supplemental down to its component parts, and pass it bit by bit, starting with those parts that are non-controversial. Additional moneys will have to be justified and argued for as if any part of our actions in Iraq were ever rational. What merits passage will pass, what seeks to prolong a purposeless war, should not pass.

It’s time to end what should never have begun. The way to do it is with the power of the purse.