"Dodd Bill Fails To Get Out of Commitee"

Chris Bowers:

Democrats have a host of bills to try and stop the escalation. One of those bills was from Chris Dodd, and had the following purpose:

[My bill] says that, prior to sending any more troops -- the 20,000 the president wants to put into Iraq, 17,000 of them into Baghdad, a city of 6 million people -- it would require a prior authorization by the Congress.

Good idea--this bill has actual teeth. Unfortunately, today it failed to get out of committee, largely due to five Democratic defections. From an email I just received:

For those keeping score, here's the Foreign Relations Committee vote on an amendment to cap the troop numbers and to require a complete reauthorization for any increase in troop levels in Iraq:

Dodd - Aye
Kerry - Aye
Feingold - Aye
Boxer - Aye
Obama - Aye
Menedez - Aye

Biden - No
Cardin - No
Nelson - No
Casey - No
Webb - No
Lugar - no
Hagel - No
Coleman - No
Sununnu - No
Corker - No
Voinovich - No
Murkowski - No
DeMint - No
Issacson - No
Vitter - No

I emphasized Hagel as well because I think it shows, like most "independent minded" Republicans, he is all talk and no walk when it comes to stopping Bush.

In terms of individual Democratic votes, I am very disappointed in Democratic freshman--especially Webb. This is pretty stunning after his speech last night. I didn't expect much more from Casey and Nelson. I certainly expected a lot more from Cardin--maybe the Mfume people were right about him, but one vote is not the whole story. Boxer and Feingold typically rock. Also, say what you will about him, but Menendez is one of the best voting Democrats in the Senate--possibly top five. And good for Obama on this one. Further, when you look at his actions over the past year, Kerry seems to have clearly seen the light on Iraq.

Chris Dodd deserves props for proposing this legislation. From what I am told, Biden appears to have led the opposition. Just drop out of the race already.