"Congress Has the Constitutional Authority to Withhold Funding For Troop Escalation"

Lynn Allen on Evergreen Politics:

Most of our Washington State delegation has come out in opposition to the craziness of the Cowboy's "surge" (so far, Reichert, McMorris and Hastings are sticking with the cowboy on this one.) But the Dems are not exactly united in opposition. Adam Smith, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell are trying to skate a very fine line -- claiming they oppose a troop increase but have no power to stop the funding for one. In other words, "Mommy, I don't want to, but he's making me do it!" Maybe they need to get a friendly tutorial from the historically hawkish Norm Dicks, who clearly got the message the voters sent on November 7th. Dicks is not buying into anymore of the president's "when the Iraqis stand up, we'll stand down" nonsense, and he's highly skeptical that any benefits will be gained by an escalation. Hopefully, that healthy dose of skepticism will rub off on some of our more wobbly electeds.

Update: Congressmen McDermott and Smith were on KUOW's Weekday this morning, discussing the strength of the Dems opposition to the escalation. Smith sounded more convinced about the wrongness of the troop buildup than in either of today's P.I. or Times articles. Unfortunately, he's still pressing the message that there isn't a way to restrict the "surge" funding without threatening to withhold equiptment and armor for the troops already there. To that I say: show some resolve, Congressman. And does anybody still believe that the troops on the ground have been getting the armor they need, so far? $371 billion later...

McDermott, on the other hand, seemed to know the history of funding restrictions quite well, referring explicitly to the Boland Amendment, and cautioning that, if Dems want to make this work, they've got to show real courage and write the language of legislation very tightly. Otherwise, Bush will do whatever he can to wriggle out of it. I think most people remember that the way the Reagan Administration got around the Boland Amendment was by thoroughly illegal means.

Bill Scher warns the Dems: "There's a danger here in getting bogged down in tactics, instead of articulating alternative strategic goals for the entire region. The tactical path is full of potential traps.