Senate agrees to war funding

Washington Post:

The Senate last night approved a $555 billion omnibus spending bill to fund the federal government for the rest of the fiscal year, shortly after bowing to President Bush's demand for $70 billion in unrestricted funds for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Democrats had vowed only weeks ago to withhold any Iraq-specific money unless strict timelines for troop withdrawal were established, but they instead chose, on a 70 to 25 vote, to remove what appeared to be the final obstacle to sending the spending bill to the White House, where Bush has indicated he will sign it. Senators then passed the omnibus bill, 76 to 17.

The House must still approve the revised spending bill, with the unrestricted war funds, but Democrats there concede the measure is likely to pass behind strong Republican support.

...

The troop-withdrawal amendment, offered by Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), failed on a 24 to 71 vote. None of the four Democrats running for president -- Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.), Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), Christopher J. Dodd (Conn.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) -- returned from the campaign trail for the vote, which failed for the third time this year to clear a 60-vote hurdle imposed by Republicans.

A nonbinding Democratic alternative that would have redeployed forces to counterterrorism missions and Iraq border security also failed.

...

The loser lobby is probably in a frenzy over this result. Both of the Democrat proposals would have been major mistakes and given al Qaeda a victory they have not earned on the battle field. They are wrong strategically and militarily. The redeployment is opposite of the policy that Gen. Petraeus put in place that has resulted in a significant drop in violence in Iraq and significant increase in cooperation among Iraqis.

The vote also demonstrated the political cowardice of the Democrat candidates. It will probably be an issue in the 2008 election.