House GOP Whip Says War Spending Should Not Be Split Up

WASHINGTON, April 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- House Minority Whip Roy Blunt on Tuesday blasted the notion of splitting the upcoming war supplemental bill into separate funding measures for Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I think it's not sustainable and, in fact, I think, to the American people, it will be offensive to think we are going to support our troops in Afghanistan in some different way than we are our troops in Iraq," said Blunt, R-Mo. "It's a bad idea and it's an idea that probably never gets out of the Appropriations Committee."

The House Appropriations Committee may consider President Bush's $108 billion request for war funding as early as next week, with the legislation expected on the House floor the last week of April or in early May.

Although Democratic leaders are still developing their strategy for moving the bill, splitting the funds would open up a range of options for them, including the possibility of attaching a second economic stimulus package to the Iraq portion.

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., was noncommittal about the idea, which was floated last week. "There are discussions about a lot of options," he said. "Until those discussions are resolved, I'm not going to discuss if splitting the supplemental is an option."

He also would not discuss whether stimulus proposals would be part of the supplemental.

Democratic leaders could also attach contentious veterans' benefits legislation to the Afghanistan funding measure, confident that they have enough votes to move that bill even if all House Republicans opposed it.

And dividing the funding also could allow Democrats to vote against Bush's Iraq policy without jeopardizing Afghanistan funding.

The administration, like House GOP leaders, rejected the notion of split funding.

"Splitting the war supplemental into two separate funding measures -- one for Iraq and one for Afghanistan is not something we could support," said Corinne Hirsch, a spokeswoman for the Office of Management and Budget.

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Source: House Republican Whip Roy Blunt

CONTACT: Christopher D. Tucker, Communications Advisor of the Office of
House Republican Whip Roy Blunt, +1-202-225-0197

2008-04-15 19:41:15 0336900 PRNEWSWIRE