Clinton joins Byrd in move to 'deauthorize' Iraq War

[Alamom]

http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2007/05/clinton_joins_b.html

USA Today

Clinton joins Byrd in move to 'deauthorize' Iraq War
20 min ago
5/3/07

By: Mark Memmott and Jill Lawrence

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton announced a short time ago on the floor of the Senate that she is joining with Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia to introduce legislation to make October 11, 2007 -- the five year anniversary of the original resolution authorizing the use of force in Iraq -- an "expiration date" for that resolution.

"The American people have called for change, the facts on the ground demand change, the Congress has passed legislation to require change. It is time to sunset the authorization for the war in Iraq. If the president will not bring himself to accept reality, it is time for Congress to bring reality to him," Clinton said in the Senate.

At the Capitol, Clinton just told USA TODAY's Kathy Kiely and a small group of other reporters that the legislation would mean U.S. troops would have to start coming home the day the authority expired. "Yes, yes," she said, her voice rising. "They (the administration) would have no authority to continue. This is the point. We're going to force a debate on the whole war. We're not going to be engaged in funding, not funding ... benchmarks, not benchmarks."

Clinton also pointed out that she had joined with Byrd in 2002 to vote for legislation that would have put a one-year expiration date on the president's authority to take on Iraq.

[liberalnurse]

1. Now that will make her

Presidential............If this can be pulled off. Did Mike Gravel get his quality time with Hillary? I'm going to see her on May 12th...............This is an issue I will hold close to my heart when I go to the Dinner.

[polichick]

2. Wow...

Good move for Hill!

[w4rma]

3. This makes no sense. She knows that Bush will just veto this bill.

All the Congressional power to reign in control from Bush lies in the war funding bill(s). Anything else is just photo-op BS.

[papau]

4. the more GOP votes on the record supporting war the better 08 is for Dems and the more

likely is wearing the GOP down so a funding bill override is successful.

[tkmorris]

5. I'm not so sure about that

I could see this bill getting more votes than the budget bill did, potentially overcoming a veto. There are more than a few Repubs who want to see this thing brought to an end, but cannot stomach defunding the troops, or at least the possibility that it could be perceived that way. At the very least it removes the whole "support the troops" crap from the equation. It's a basic vote. War or no more? For it or against?

It could work.

[w4rma]

7. No, papau is right. The only advantage is that it puts GOPers on record for 2008.

Helps win the 2008 elections at the Congressional level, but it does nothing to help stop the war before Bush's term ends.

[ben_meyers]

6. I voted for the war

Before I voted against it? You just know that will be the drum beat. Don't these people learn from history?

[polichick]

8. Could be a countermove to Edwards' recent moves...

He was for the war, but now appears to be listening to "the people" and redeeming himself by being strongly anti-war. Maybe she's trying to do the same thing.

[Alamom]

9. This was a stunning development on the Senate floor today at a moments notice

(here) @ DU. It was reported to be on CSpan2. The Senate was voting on various other legislation and Senator Reid spoke and then later, Senator Clinton spoke regarding nullifying the IWR .

I didn't get the idea that this is all about Senator Clinton, even though some of the MSM is presenting it that way. The first reports are, she is co-sponsoring with Senator Reid. Since they are both full committee members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, it would make sense for them to sponsor a move of this sort. It's not clear at this time how this will be done. Included in the funding bill, new legislation or to withdraw the presidents authority.......



http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-05-04-voa5.cfm

Clinton is cosponsoring the legislation with fellow Democrat, Senator Robert Byrd, who noted that public opinion polls show that a majority of Americans oppose the war. "Without the support of the public and the congress, we should no longer be in this fight," he said.

Senator Clinton announced the legislation on the Senate floor late Thursday. "It is time to sunset the authorization of the war in Iraq. If the president will not bring himself to accept reality, it is time for congress to bring reality to him," she said.




http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-05-03-clinton-war-powers_N.htm



Clinton announces effort to revoke president's war powers


By Kathy Kiely, USA TODAY
5/3/07
WASHINGTON — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton announced Thursday that she's joining forces with one of the Senate's most skilled parliamentary infighters to try to rescind President Bush's authority to wage war.

Clinton, a New York Democrat seeking her party's presidential nomination, and Sen. Robert Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat who is the Senate's longest-serving member, said they will seek a vote to rescind the authority Congress granted Bush to use force in Iraq in October 2002. If approved, the measure would require congressional reauthorization for troops to remain in Iraq, Clinton said.


"We're going to force a debate on the whole war," she told reporters outside the Senate chamber. "We want to force the Congress to look at whether the president's authority, which comes from Congress, should be rescinded."

>
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he intends to enact funding legislation by the end of the month. He called his initial meeting with Bolten "constructive," but would not elaborate on details of a possible compromise.


Below are (some of) the threads started when this happened late this afternoon.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=3248571&mesg_id=3248571


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x815342

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x814125



If you were at work or didn't see anything on the news, I hope this helps to understand what some of us saw and heard from the senate floor today.
It may not help or work, but does seem to be another means of attack on a stubborn and maniacal C*I*C.