Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks (as prepared) on the Senate floor Wednesday regarding the Webb Amendment to the Defense Authorization Act.

“We’re just a couple days into the debate on Defense Authorization Act. But a familiar and troubling pattern is already beginning to emerge.

“We could have voted on the Webb Amendment yesterday. Republicans were willing to move forward with votes on side-by-side amendments, and we said so.

“Yet the Democratic Majority insisted on a cloture filing instead that had no other effect than to slow things down. We’re about to have the same vote, with the same threshold, and the same result, that we would have had yesterday. All for no apparent reason.

“Two days into this debate, and we’re already headed down the same fruitless road we went down with the emergency supplemental bill, when the Democratic Majority delayed the delivery of funds for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan for more than three months.

“The bill we finally sent to the President’s desk was guaranteed to draw a veto, so the Democratic Majority delayed it some more. In the end, they gave the President the bill he asked for. They wasted three months of the Senate’s time fussing and fighting over the original request, and then gave him what he wanted in the first place.

“It was a total waste of time.

“Now here we go again. Two days into this debate, and we’re already wasting time on an amendment we know the President will veto. The Webb Amendment contains many good things that Republicans strongly support. But it also limits the President’s authority as Commander in Chief, and combined with other objectionable provisions in this bill, it will provoke his veto.

“The President vetoed the emergency supplemental because it carried restrictions on his constitutional authority as Commander in Chief. He’ll do it on this bill too. We know this for a fact.

“No one here disagrees with the idea that our forces should be rested, trained, and well-equipped. Republicans showed yesterday that we’re committed to give our soldiers and Marines everything they need. That’s why this underlying bill begins the expansion of the Army and the Marine Corps. And that’s why Republicans offered a side-by-side amendment yesterday that would have given our men and women in the field all these things — without language that will draw a presidential veto.

“If the Democratic Majority would have allowed us a vote on the Graham Amendment, we could have stood here today and told the troops that rest, training, and equipment are on the way. But instead, we’re going to dangle all these things in front of them, knowing they won’t be delivered. The Democratic Majority is trying to force us to make a false choice between these two options, to pit the troops against their Commander in Chief. This isn’t just foolish. It’s wrong.

“By putting limits on the President’s authority to control forces in the field, the Webb Amendment also amounts to a backdoor effort to hamstring the Petraeus Plan.

“It’s the first vote on a strategy that hasn’t been fully manned for just about a month. Every Senator in this chamber knows we’ll get a progress report on General Petraeus’s strategy in September — two months from now. We should wait for that assessment before rushing to judgment. A Democratic-led Senate sent General Petraeus to Iraq and confirmed his nomination unanimously. He has a plan. He’s executing it. We need to let him do his work.

“Let me say it again: the Webb Amendment contains a policy objective that Republicans enthusiastically share. What we do not share is the belief that the President's constitutional powers as Commander in Chief should be eroded by politicians in Washington in a time of war. As this debate proceeds, we will debate a number of amendments that seek to limit the President’s authority and which dictate operational plans for the war in Iraq. I expect that at least some of them will seek to order an immediate withdrawal of our combat forces.

“These amendments would provide a direct way to end our involvement in Iraq, and the Senate will consider them in due course. But the Webb amendment is different. It would curtail the deployment of reinforcements to Iraq, denying our military commanders the ability to sustain current force levels in Iraq, especially in Anbar province, where most agree there has been evidence of success.

“The Defense Department establishes dwell times through policies that have been developed over time by our commanders and leaders. Those leaders, in turn respond to the requests of commanders in the field. The waiver contained in the Webb Amendment sets an unreasonably high bar.

“Republicans, meanwhile, will insist on amendments that protect the nation’s ability to defeat terrorists and wage war against al-Qaeda.

“I urge a no vote against the Webb amendment, as it seeks to limit the president’s authority as Commander in Chief, and will deny our field commanders operational forces. I urge my colleagues to do the same.”

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