Congress OKs Iraq Supplemental Funding; Minnesota Delegation Largely Supportive

Both the House and Senate passed through a supplemental funding bill for the Iraq war Thursday night, bringing to an end for the moment a standoff between Congress and the White House over continued funding of the war.

The measure dropped a set of firm benchmarks designed to force the Bush administration and Iraqi government to show progress in order to receive continued funding.  While a measure had previously passed with those benchmarks, it was vetoed by Bush, and opposed by nearly all Republicans in Congress

While most Democrats in the House opposed the measure, only two of Minnesota’s lawmakers, Democrats Keith Ellison and Betty McCollum, voted against the measure.  A third, Jim Oberstar, did not vote.  Tim Walz and Collin Peterson both voted in favor of the supplemental funding bill.

All three of Minnesota’s Republican representatives voted in favor of the measure.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., voted in favor of the measure.  Republican Sen. Norm Coleman did not cast a vote because of a family medical emergency. He issued a statement supporting the bill, but added, “Our soldiers cannot remain in the crosshairs of sectarian violence if the Iraqi government does not show the will to establish peace.”

Klobuchar said that she voted for the measure because she “simply could not stomach the idea of using our soldiers as bargaining chips with this White House while our troops go unfunded and our veterans go uncared for,” and added that she would support legislation calling for a withdrawal of U.S. troops in Iraq beginning at the end of supplemental funding in 120 days.

Walz had announced his intention to vote in favor of the supplemental bill, citing concern that President Bush would use troops as pawns if the standoff continued.  “The only way I can moderate the President’s recklessness is to ensure he does not leave our soldiers in Iraq without the funding and equipment they need,” he said.