Bingaman Votes No on Feingold-Reid Iraq War Amendment

Talk about disappointing. Despite being one of the Senators with enough sanity to vote against granting Bush the power to invade Iraq, Sen. Jeff Bingaman now seems reluctant to do anything meaningful to end the violent and futile fiasco in Iraq. Today, he joined with 18 other Dems (see below) to vote against cloture on the Feingold-Reid amendment, which would require that a redeployment of troops be completed by March 2008, when war funding would end. A total of 29 Democratic Senators voted to support it.

The proposed amendment was to the Water Resources Development Act, not to the supplemental funding bill for the war. The amendment cloture vote was viewed as a test vote to show support for changing course in Iraq. Although only 11 Dem Senators originally signed on as cosponsors, a majority of Dem Senators voted to support it. The plan is to use the show of support in negotiating what will be in the actual supplemental bill to fund the troops , which is due to be negotiated by a House-Senate conference committee next week. What's hopeful is that all of the Dem Senators who are running for president voted for the amendment, essentially going on record as being supportive of a strategy to tie war funding to bringing the troops home. This will be useful in the negotiations on the supplemental funding bill, which Reid and Pelosi have pledged will continue through the usual Memorial Day recess if necessary.

Sen. Feingold noted the growing support for the amendment in his statement after today's vote:

“Today the Senate took another step toward acknowledging the will of the American people, who want to end this misguided mission in Iraq. A majority of Senate Democrats are on the record clearly stating that the President’s Iraq policy is a failure and that we need to take real action to change course. Keeping 150,000 American troops in the middle of an Iraqi civil war both hurts our national security and impedes the ability to reach a political solution in Iraq. We must continue to ratchet up the pressure on the President and supporters of this irresponsible war to safely redeploy our troops from Iraq so we can refocus on those who attacked us on 9/11.”

Senator Feingold originally introduced the Feingold-Reid legislation on April 10th to safely redeploy the troops by March 31, 2008 after which funding for the war would end. With 29 Senators supporting the Feingold-Reid amendment today, the support for changing course in Iraq has grown considerably since thirteen Senators voted in favor of the Feingold-Kerry amendment to the Defense Authorization bill last June, which only set a date certain for redeployment. In August 2005, Feingold became the first Senator to propose the idea of a timetable for redeployment from Iraq.

Not one Republican voted for cloture on Feingold-Reid. Despite growing criticism of Bush's handling of the war coming from moderate Repubs, apparently no-one is yet "secure" enough to represent their constituents' views on Iraq with a vote demanding a real change in course. Instead of putting our troops first, they appear content, at least for now, to continue bowing to the stubborn and politically cynical stance of BushCo on the war. Meanwhile, our troops keep dying in what has obviously become a futile horror show.

The 18 Dem Senators who sided with the cowardly Repubs and voted against cloture on the Feingold-Reid amendment:

Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Conrad (D-ND)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Levin (D-MI)
Lincoln (D-AR)
McCaskill (D-MO)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reed (D-RI)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Salazar (D-CO)
Tester (D-MT)
Webb (D-VA)

Clearly, Reid has his hands full trying to convince both these Dems and the reticent moderate Repubs to vote according to the will of the majority of the American people on the war in Iraq. Even at this late stage. Unfortunately, cowardice and inertia are still rampant in the U.S. Senate despite the deplorable ground conditions in Iraq, the urging of former Iraq commanders for a change and the growing pressure from citizens to bring our troops home.

Let Sen. Bingaman Know Your Views
You might want to contact Bingaman's office to urge him to support an end to this war by voting for a deadline in funding and bringing the troops home. You might also ask him why he failed to vote for cloture on the Feingold-Reid amendment, and who he thinks he's representing in voting against a decisive change in course:

Sen. Jeff Bingaman
Washington Office:  (202) 224-5521 or Tollfree (in NM) 1-800-443-8658
Other Offices: Click for contact info
Email: senator_bingaman@bingaman.senate.gov
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