President Bush Vetoes the Iraq War Spending Bill

Photo by AP

Exactly four years to the day that President Bush, stood on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln and proclaimed that “major combat operations” in Iraq were over. He exercised his veto power for the second time in his Presidency.

President Bush referred to the bill as “unacceptable.” He said that he would give an address to the nation tonight to give his reason why he veto, then in mid-speech, President Bush cited the following reasons why he veto the bill; just hours after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) sent the bill to the White House.

In his address to the nation, the President cited three reasons, why he veto the legislation that would have approved the $124 billion war spending measure with the stipulation that troop withdrawal could start as early as July 1st, and it would have to start no later than October 1st regardless of the situation on the ground:

First, the bill would mandate a rigid and artificial deadline for American troops to begin withdrawing from Iraq…Second, the bill would impose impossible conditions on our commanders in combat. After forcing most of our troops to withdraw, the bill would dictate the terms under which the remaining commanders and troops could engage the enemy. That means America's commanders in the middle of a combat zone would have to take fighting directions from politicians 6,000 miles away in Washington, D.C. This is a prescription for chaos and confusion, and we must not impose it on our troops…Third, the bill is loaded with billions of dollars in non- emergency spending that has nothing to do with fighting the war on terror. Congress should debate these spending measures on their own merits and not as a part of an emergency funding bill for our troops.

After President Bush gave his remarks and announced his decision to veto the piece of legislation. One thing was very clear, the Democrats received exactly wanted, they were able to make their political statement about their opposition to the war. However, the problem with this is that it is just a statement, it will come quite apparent in the coming days that there is not enough support in the Congress to override the President’s veto.

Related Links:

President Bush Vetoes Spending Bill May 1, 2007
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/05/01/congress.iraq/index.html

President Bush's Speech May 1, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/01/washington/02bush-text.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Politico.com May 1, 2007
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0507/3773.html

“Mission Accomplished” Speech May 1, 2003
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A2415-2003May1?language=printer