In yet another sign that he has lost clout with his party, President Bush saw the Senate demand Tuesday that he explain the Administration's strategy in Iraq and report regularly to Congress on plans to withdraw. The bipartisan vote (79-19) is the first public break between congressional Republican leaders and the president on the war in Iraq. However, they rejected a Democrat-sponsored measure that would have specified a timetable.
By a vote of 84-14, the Senate also approved a measure that allows some Guantanamo Bay prisoners to appeal their military convictions in civilian courts.
The bill's sponsor, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-SC), is a military judge in the Air Force Reserves.
Lawmakers likely had the 2006 election on their minds, given declining public support for the war. The House of Representatives has not acted on the measure; some analysts do not expect the House to concur on the non-binding resolution.
Amendment 2518, offered by Sen. John Warner (R-VA), is yet another (of many) tacked onto S1042, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006.
The 19 opposition votes to the Graham amendment included six Democrats (Byrd, Conrad, Harkin, Kennedy, Kerry and Leahy):
- Bunning (R-KY)
- Burr (R-NC)
- Byrd (D-WV)
- Chambliss (R-GA)
- Coburn (R-OK)
- Conrad (D-ND)
- DeMint (R-SC)
- Graham (R-SC)
- Harkin (D-IA)
- Inhofe (R-OK)
- Isakson (R-GA)
- Kennedy (D-MA)
- Kerry (D-MA)
- Kyl (R-AZ)
- Leahy (D-VT)
- McCain (R-AZ)
- Sessions (R-AL)
- Thune (R-SD)
- Vitter (R-LA)
Only one Republican, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), voted against the Graham amendment:
- Baucus (D-MT)
- Biden (D-DE)
- Bingaman (D-NM)
- Byrd (D-WV)
- Dayton (D-MN)
- Durbin (D-IL)
- Feingold (D-WI)
- Harkin (D-IA)
- Kennedy (D-MA)
- Lautenberg (D-NJ)
- Leahy (D-VT)
- Rockefeller (D-WV)
- Sarbanes (D-MD)
- Specter (R-PA)
See On Going to War, Issue: The War in Iraq, Iraq War Results and Statistics as of October 2005
Media covering this story:
Boston Globe,
Houston Chronicle, Indianapolis Star,
Newsday
Blogs covering this story:
US Liberals,
The Grape's Vine,
Kaza Blog
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This article appeared originally at uspolitics.about.com
Edited: nd
Article comments
1 - Nancy
Did any of the opposed state WHY they were opposed? I should have thought this would have been a shoo-in for copping Dem votes?!
2 - Dave Nalle
Did you see WHO opposed the Warner Amendment? It's a list of the most liberal people in the Senate. And Arlen Specter voted against the Graham amendment and he's the most moderate sensible voice in the Senate. Something more is going on here than meets the eye. And it doesn't sound like a break with the White House at all. All the liberals are voting against it.
Dave
3 - Nancy
That's what I mean; there's something else moving the bottom feeders in congress.
4 - Jon Fowler
I agree with Dave and Nancy on this one. Whenever I see Arlen Specter on the list of nay votes I immediately become suspecious. I'd like to see the reasons why these senators voted against the amendment. It seems kind of fishy.
5 - ss
I'm just guessing here, obviously, but on the Warner amendment it doesn't seem that far fetched to me that the New England wing of the Dems voted against it because there was no time table for withdrawal, and the Southern end of the Reps voted against it because they don't want to be seen questioning the President in wartime in any way at all.
As for Specter joining Feingold, Durbin, and Kennedy to vote 'No', I shouldn't even hazard a guess.
6 - Nancy
Talk about strange bedfellows....
7 - Kathy
I'm with Jon ... there are two things going on here. One is the fact that this is an amendment to an appropriations bill -- purists (are there any in the Senate) should oppose hijacking in this manner.
I'm with the "there is no timetable so I ain't gonna support it" line of thought on Warner's.
On Graham's ... I have NOT a clue. All I was doing was reporting "facts" (there were more "yes" votes here than on the Warner bill) ... and I agree that havine Specter vote "no" made me go "huh"?
If I see more, I'll update.