The Quad-City Times - News, Sports and more from the Quad Cities region or Iowa and Illinois

You are not logged in.
Login

Log in to qctimes.com
Email:
Password:
Remember my information.
Register
Quadsville
Site Help

Braley, Hare, Obama vote against Iraq spending bill

Font Size:

By Ed Tibbetts | Friday, May 25, 2007 12:05 AM CDT | () comments

The Quad-Cities two new congressmen voted against a compromise war spending proposal Thursday night, while all but one of the area’s senators voted for it.

U.S. Reps. Bruce Braley,

D-Iowa, and Phil Hare, D-Ill., were critical of the measure.

Hare called it “nothing more than an endorsement of President Bush’s failed Iraq policy that has left our troops stranded refereeing a religious civil war.” Braley said it amounts to writing President Bush a “blank check.” Earlier, both voted for a separate domestic spending package that was related to the spending measure.

In the Senate, all the area’s delegation voted for the bill except U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

Obama, a presidential candidate, said the president has led the U.S. down a “disastrous path” and the spending bill allows him to continue.

U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, cast votes for the measure. Harkin praised the domestic spending in the compromise but said “Republican obstructionism” made it necessary to get 60 votes for a troop withdrawal from Iraq. “We are not there yet,” he said.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, the only Republican in the delegation, supported the bill. The Iowa senator said he was glad, after months, an “overwhelming majority” of Congress approved of the measure “to finally get money to the troops who are in harm’s way.” Earlier, he had criticized the compromise package because it included domestic matters that bypassed the regular committee process.

Ed Tibbetts can be contacted at (563) 383-2327 or etibbetts@qctimes.com.