Murtha to Block Bush's Troop
Surge by Limiting Funds

By Nicholas Johnston and Laura Litvan
Bloomberg.Com

Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Democratic Representative John Murtha (PA), chairman of a House subcommittee on defense spending, said he will try to block the increase of U.S. forces in Iraq and force the closing of a military prison in Guantanamo Bay by withholding funds for those operations.

Murtha said his panel will draft a set of conditions to be attached to the emergency spending legislation for military operations that President George W. Bush is to submit to lawmakers next month.

"We have a role as elected officials to exert our influence through the power of the purse," said Murtha. "We're going to look at every aspect" of the funding request.

Bush this week said he plans to deploy 21,500 more troops to Iraq in an attempt to defeat insurgents and end violence. The Defense Department submitted a request to the White House last month for $99.7 billion more in emergency funding to pay for military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and the war on terror, which would bring such spending in fiscal 2007 to a record $170 billion.

Murtha, of Pennsylvania, said that while he would prevent funds in the emergency request from being used to increase the number of troops in Iraq, he wouldn't withhold funds from forces already deployed.

"Obviously, we'll keep funding them," he said.

Resolutions

Democratic leaders in both chambers are drafting nonbinding resolutions in opposition to Bush's troop-surge proposal and are weighing options that could tie further funding for military operations to curtailed U.S. involvement in Iraq.

Murtha said that resolutions would be "statements" that the administration would be able to override or ignore. Spending measures are the most effective way for Congress to change Iraq policy, he said.

"Through the appropriations process, that's the legitimate way we do it," Murtha told reporters after attending a meeting of Democratic lawmakers on Iraq.

Republican leaders in both chambers continue to back Bush's call for a surge in military personnel.

"Having additional troops to support the Iraqi troops, I think makes sense if we're serious about securing Baghdad," said House Minority Leader John Boehner, an Ohio Republican.

Republican Doubts

Still, the president faces doubts among some lawmakers of his own party. Bush is hosting Republican leaders from both chambers, including Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, at Camp David for a two-day meeting beginning today to discuss Iraq.

So far, a dozen Senate Republicans have said they oppose Bush's plan to add more troops, and House Republican leaders convened a closed door "listening session" in the basement of the Capitol today to air the concerns of lawmakers.

"There is a healthy dose of skepticism about whether we will fundamentally change the situation on the ground," said Representative Adam Putnam of Florida, the No. 3 House Republican leader.

Murtha said he is also considering adding provisions to the spending legislation that would end the extension of tours of duty, prevent the establishment of permanent bases in Iraq and set clear policies to prevent the torture of captured insurgents.

Pelosi

Jennifer Crider, a spokeswoman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said Pelosi has encouraged Murtha to explore the possibility of attaching conditions to funding for Iraq war operations and she will examine his proposals.

"It's something she's definitely encouraged him to do," Crider said.

David Obey, a Wisconsin Democrat who is chairman of the Appropriations Committee, said it will be difficult for lawmakers to block the policy because part of the troop increase will come from extending the tours of forces already in Iraq.

"It's pretty hard to stop the president from building up with troops who are already there," Obey said.

The prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has been controversial since it opened in January 2002 to hold suspected terrorists. Amnesty International, a human-rights organization, has called it a "gulag of our times" and the United Nations said it should be closed.

Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated military tribunals at the prison, ruling that the trials fail to follow the 1949 Geneva conventions on the treatment of prisoners of war.

Murtha said he would "just cut the money out" of future spending bills to force its closure, along with the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, which was at the center of a prisoner abuse scandal.

Senate Resolution

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said yesterday that a nonbinding resolution the Senate will take up as early as next week may have an effect on Bush's plans. So far, 12 Senate Republicans are on record opposing the increase in troops, he noted, and the vote will demonstrate that the near-universal support Bush has enjoyed from congressional Republicans for the war is crumbling.

"I think that will be the beginning of the end of the war in Iraq, I really do," Reid said. He views the war, he said, as "the biggest foreign policy blunder ever."

Reid said he doesn't rule out further nonbinding resolutions that could call for a scaling back of the war effort, or so-called "policy riders" that could be added to Bush's forthcoming request for more funds.

Democratic leaders are wrestling with the question of what they can do, under the Constitution, to rein-in the commander- in-chief, while understanding that they will need to get 60 votes in the Senate to pass any proposal, said Richard Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat.

To contact the reporters on this story: Nicholas Johnston in Washington at njohnston3 (at) bloomberg.net or Laura Litvan in Washington at llitvan (at) bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 12, 2007 15:23 EST