No end in sight for defense budget bill

[unhappycamper]

No end in sight for defense budget bill
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Sep 21, 2007 13:40:56 EDT

After 13 days and more than 80 hours of debate on the 2008 defense budget, Senate leaders still have not found a way around the partisan divide over Iraq policy that will enable passage of the $647 billion policy measure.

Concluding a week in which the Senate couldn’t get enough votes for any Iraq-related amendments to overcome parliamentary roadblocks, Senate leaders said they need to do something.

“At some point we have to find a way to end this,” said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman and floor manager of the defense bill.

At least two more Iraq-related amendments are scheduled for debate Monday and Tuesday, with no signs that anyone can get the 60 votes needed under Senate rules to end debate and force action on legislation.

On Friday, the Senate deadlocked 47-47 on a Levin-sponsored amendment that called for a re-deployment of U.S. combat troops in Iraq, away from direct involvement in quelling sectarian violence and toward missions of training Iraqi forces, chasing down terrorists and protecting U.S. forces.

“I hope we can finish up the Iraq amendments as quickly as possible and move to the more than 100 amendments we have on the bill itself,” said Sen. John McCain, the Republican floor manager for the bill.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/09/military_senate_defensebill_070921w/

[Greyhound]

1. I just wanted to kick this in the hopes that some of our more "conservative" friends notice

that we're talking about spending 2/3 of a trillion, that's trillion with a 'T', dollars that we don't have in welfare to corporations worth hundreds of billions and that pay virtually no taxes.
:kick:

[PA Democrat]

3. Yes, tremendously profitable companies like Blackwater

that can kill innocent civilians without fear of accountability. And their indiscriminate killing of those civilians puts Americans troops even further at risk.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. They're quarrelling over Iraq measures but...

no one seems to think that 647 billion is a bit much for a defense budget?

Add to that the supplementals, off-budget expenses, Homeland Security, CIA and other hidden and covert spy budgets and we're spending a TRILLION or so a year on "defense"!

And no one thinks this is just a little out of line?

Or asks what we're getting for it?

[Greyhound]

4. I see this is still being ignored, well here's another kick. n/t