New low for Congress

Investor's Business Daily:

The United States Senate has a long history of regrettable actions. But rarely has it done something as low and damaging to America as its vote Tuesday to withdraw troops from an active battlefield.

That Democrats want the U.S. to go down to defeat in Iraq can no longer be questioned. The bill they narrowly passed would, in effect, ensure such an outcome by giving both al-Qaida terrorists and Baath Party dead-enders confidence they'll soon be able to rule Iraq through terror.

The Senate likes to call itself 'the world's greatest deliberative body.' If that was ever true, it certainly isn't today. Walking away from a just fight in order to gorge on pork hardly counts as a profile in courage. Yet that's precisely what the Democrat-dominated chamber did.

The vote was 50-48, with two Republicans — Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Gordon Smith of Oregon — joining 48 Democrats in support. One Democrat, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, voted with the 47 Republicans in opposition.

Last week, a similar measure passed the House by a 218-212 vote. It called for a U.S. troop withdrawal by the end of August 2008. The Senate bill starts the troop pullout just three months from now, with a complete withdrawal expected by March 31, 2008.

Each bill also features $24 billion in pork-barrel spending. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid kept it in to buy support from reluctant members. It's nothing but blood money for those who otherwise might be troubled by running from a fight we can still win.

Given Congress' runaway spending, its members' apparent willingness to be bought off and its disgraceful abandonment of the troops, this will go down as one of the most venal votes in the last 50 years — perhaps ever.

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Selling out the troops for pork has got to be a new low. It comes from a lack of courage on the part of the Democrats. They do not have the courage to win the war or to take responsibility for losing it, so they buy votes for a scheme that will insure defeat while avoiding responsibility. It is venal and it is gutless.