‘If they think the war is over, they should vote against the appropriations bill’
LOUISVILLE – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell appeared on ‘Fox News Sunday’ this morning. The following are excerpts from the program:
On Iran:
“This is the kind of behavior you would expect from a regime that denies that the Holocaust occurred and would like to see Israel annihilated. The Iranians by their own behavior have done something pretty challenging for everyone else, which is to unify the entire world against them. Most of the Sunni Arab countries who are generally friendly with us, the Egyptians, Saudis, Jordanians, are appalled by Iran. The Iranians' own behavior has made it more possible for us to get the kind of international cooperation that we need in order to have sanctions that actually bite.”
On the consequences of delaying funds to the troops in the field, the surrender date in the funding bill, and the President’s veto:
“[I]t affects other things. It affects readiness. It affects the lives of the troops.”
“Clearly, the Army chief of staff is correct. The general sent me a letter just a couple of days ago indicating that severe consequences would follow not having the bill by April, by mid-April, mid to late April, so what needs to happen here is the House of Representatives needs to come back a week early, we need to get the conference report on the money for the troops bill down to the President so it can be vetoed. “
“Why is it going to be vetoed? Because it's got a date specific in there when we're going to leave. It's like sending a memo to the enemy giving them the date that you're going to give up. I think our Democratic friends have decided the war is lost. They don't have the courage to vote against the money, which is the only way to end the war, so instead what they do is try to make it more difficult for our troops to succeed by saying we'll send them the money, but we're going to put all kinds of strings on it.
“If they think the war is over, they should vote against the appropriations bill.”
“Oh, I don't think the President's going to sign a bill that is supposedly for getting funds to the troops which in effect says to the enemy we're going to give up on a certain date. I think the President's going to veto that bill. I think we ought to get it on down to him and get the veto out of the way, get the veto sustained and get serious about providing money for the troops without a deadline that endangers our troops and gives the enemy a precise date upon which we're leaving.”
On the flaws in the war funding bill:
“That's not the only outrage in the bill. Not only does it send a memo to our enemies telling them exactly when they can win, it's also porked up. The Congress put in spinach, money for spinach farmers, peanut storage. They used this serious effort, what should have been a serious effort to fund the troops, as an opportunity to send a memo to our enemy when we're going to give up—and to get pork for various and assorted projects back home. This bill is not salvageable. It needs to be vetoed. It needs to come back to Congress very quickly and we need to get serious about providing the funds for the troops so we can win in Iraq, not give up.”
30
LOUISVILLE – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell appeared on ‘Fox News Sunday’ this morning. The following are excerpts from the program:
On Iran:
“This is the kind of behavior you would expect from a regime that denies that the Holocaust occurred and would like to see Israel annihilated. The Iranians by their own behavior have done something pretty challenging for everyone else, which is to unify the entire world against them. Most of the Sunni Arab countries who are generally friendly with us, the Egyptians, Saudis, Jordanians, are appalled by Iran. The Iranians' own behavior has made it more possible for us to get the kind of international cooperation that we need in order to have sanctions that actually bite.”
On the consequences of delaying funds to the troops in the field, the surrender date in the funding bill, and the President’s veto:
“[I]t affects other things. It affects readiness. It affects the lives of the troops.”
“Clearly, the Army chief of staff is correct. The general sent me a letter just a couple of days ago indicating that severe consequences would follow not having the bill by April, by mid-April, mid to late April, so what needs to happen here is the House of Representatives needs to come back a week early, we need to get the conference report on the money for the troops bill down to the President so it can be vetoed. “
“Why is it going to be vetoed? Because it's got a date specific in there when we're going to leave. It's like sending a memo to the enemy giving them the date that you're going to give up. I think our Democratic friends have decided the war is lost. They don't have the courage to vote against the money, which is the only way to end the war, so instead what they do is try to make it more difficult for our troops to succeed by saying we'll send them the money, but we're going to put all kinds of strings on it.
“If they think the war is over, they should vote against the appropriations bill.”
“Oh, I don't think the President's going to sign a bill that is supposedly for getting funds to the troops which in effect says to the enemy we're going to give up on a certain date. I think the President's going to veto that bill. I think we ought to get it on down to him and get the veto out of the way, get the veto sustained and get serious about providing money for the troops without a deadline that endangers our troops and gives the enemy a precise date upon which we're leaving.”
On the flaws in the war funding bill:
“That's not the only outrage in the bill. Not only does it send a memo to our enemies telling them exactly when they can win, it's also porked up. The Congress put in spinach, money for spinach farmers, peanut storage. They used this serious effort, what should have been a serious effort to fund the troops, as an opportunity to send a memo to our enemy when we're going to give up—and to get pork for various and assorted projects back home. This bill is not salvageable. It needs to be vetoed. It needs to come back to Congress very quickly and we need to get serious about providing the funds for the troops so we can win in Iraq, not give up.”
30