From Congresswoman Lowey!

Dear Friends:

With the Bush Administration clinging stubbornly to a failed Iraq policy, the Democratic Congress is taking strong and decisive action to force a change in strategy.

This week, the House passed the Orderly and Responsible Iraq Redeployment Appropriations Act, which establishes a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops, limits funding for the war to immediate needs without open-ended commitments, and sets a goal of complete redeployment by the end of 2008.

The Administration had requested $200 billion more for the war. Instead, the House approved $50 billion, sufficient to maintain operations for four months, with consideration of the remainder deferred, so that progress towards withdrawal can be examined.

It is notable – and powerful evidence of the Bush Administration’s misplaced priorities – that even as it was decrying $50 billion in Iraq war spending as insufficient, it was simultaneously vetoing the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill for its alleged “waste.”

This bill funded critical investments related to health care, schooling, job training, home heating assistance and other core national interests. Tens of millions of Americans will suffer grievous harm if these essential expenditures are rolled back. President Bush’s veto cries out for a challenge, and House Democrats will do everything in our power to strengthen these initiatives.


The President still wields considerable Constitutional authority, and achieving a comprehensive change in policy may prove impossible prior to the election of a new administration. In the interim, I am committed, as is the Democratic House leadership, to using our Constitutional leverage to maximum effect.

This is what the American people expected when they entrusted Democrats with power, and this is what our nation and the world urgently need.

Sincerely,

Nita