The Democrats on their way to failure once again:
Three top House Democrats are proposing a “war surtax” to fund the Iraq war.
“If the president really is concerned about stopping red ink, we are prepared to introduce legislation which will provide for a war surtax for that portion of military costs that are related to our military actions in Iraq,” Rep. David Obey, the Wisconsin Democrat who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, says, according to Reuters.
The Politico reports members of the Democratic leadership say they’ll oppose any spending bills that don’t include a plan to end the 4-year-old conflict. Under the surtax proposal, taxpayers would pay extra taxes — ranging from 2% to 15% based on income — designed to raise $140 billion a year for the war effort.
When in doubt, tax tax and tax some more. The economy slowing down? Who cares, lets tax.
Meanwhile some Democrats want to hold funds for the troops hostage:
Frustrated by the stalemate over Iraq, House Democrats spelled out a strategy that would stall action on President Bush’s 2008 war budget and rely on incremental funding to sustain troop operations in until next spring.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates outlined an almost $190 billion request last week for the military in Iraq and Afghanistan over the coming year. But House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D., Wis.) said this morning that he had “absolutely no intention” of reporting out a bill this year to fund “any such request that simply serves to continue the status quo.”
Instead, Democrats appear likely to provide short-term funding in the range of $40 billion to $50 billion to sustain overseas operations as part of final House-Senate negotiations on a pending budget bill covering the Pentagon’s core costs for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. The Senate is to take up that measure today, and the appropriations leadership is hopeful a House-Senate agreement can be sent to the White House before Thanksgiving, when a final decision will have to be made about ensuring troops in the field have adequate funds.
Silly liberals. Don’t they understand they can stop the war by voting to defund the war? Oh, thats right, a majority of them wont vote for that, so instead people like Obey and Murtha try other tricks to force us to run like cowards.
Our taxes fund the war now, the only reason to raise taxes is the same as when they talk about re-instituting the draft….to make the war as unpopular as possible.
Meanwhile their cohorts in the media are doing their utmost to help them:
Today, on the front page of The Washington Post, we see the third in a three-part series on roadside bombs in Iraq. The stories in this series have been centered on the top half of the page and highlighted in red (a device I don’t recall seeing before). Next to that is a huge headline about allegations of killings In Iraq by Blackwater. Below that is a headline that reads "Most in Poll Want War Funding Cut." Meanwhile deep inside the paper, on page A14, we find the following article: "U.S. and Civilian Deaths Decrease Sharply in Iraq: American Military Credits Troop Influx." True, nestled between the other screaming headlines on page one, there is a brief minuscule teaser for this far more positive story about Iraq. Yet the bias here is clear.
Bury the good news, highlight the bad news…even news that is two years old, all to help their allies in the Democrat party gain the White House in 08′
Nope, no bias there.
UPDATE
They bury the good news, and don’t even report on news that the Democrats have failed once again:
I had not realized that the Senate passed the Defense Department authorization yesterday until the Standard commented on it this morning. The spending bill passed overwhelmingly, 92-3, with only Robert Byrd, Tom Coburn, and Russ Feingold in opposition. Tellingly, the Democrats running for office from the Senate all managed to miss the vote — Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Chrsi Dodd, and Joe Biden.
Democrats had threatened to hold up the Defense appropriation until George Bush bent to their will on Iraq. Harry Reid had petulantly taken the bill off the table in July, attempting to hold it to the last minute in order to pressure Republicans to change course in Iraq. Instead, as the success of the surge became more and more apparent, Reid found the ground falling out from beneath him.
Oddly, no major newspaper on my feed list bothered to report this development.
The Democrats crow and crow to their crazy base that they will FORCE a withdrawal from Iraq. They have a majority in both houses and still manage to gather THREE votes to deny funds.
Shocker.
See author page
Simply catering to the NutRoots for all their worth and bending to the funding of George Soros.
Way too transparent for those who connect the dots.
House Democratic leaders moved swiftly Tuesday to thwart a tax proposal that would pay for the Iraq war, seeking to avoid the label of “tax and spend liberals†as they head into a spending fight with President Bush.
David Obey (D. Wi) whined, “If you don’t like the cost, then shut down the war, 
Republicans fell over themselves to mock the proposal, with White House Press Secretary Dana Perino leading the charge.
“We’ve always known that Democrats seem to revert to type and they are willing to raise taxes on just about anything,†Perino said. “There’s no need to increase taxes.â€Â
Funny how Obey doesn’t whine about the costs assoicated with the War On Poverty…
I’d almost go for the surtax if they would allow a compromise and agree to mail out statements to all taxpayers paying the surtax showing how the $$$TRILLIONS in taxpayer money for social spending has gone down a bureaucratic rathole and been lost to waste, fraud and abuse.
Something tells me Dems would drop the war surtax in a second if that was the deal.
What upsets me the most about this is that the military budget, even with extra appropriations (minus pork) is about 4.4% of GDP. Yet the left is all up in arms about the war’s costs. I doubt many in Congress even care to know the cost of Defense (Constitutionally mandated) when compared to non-discretionary spending (not Constitutionally mandated) and Pork.
How about the cost of welfare/Medicare/Medicaid/social security and the fraud rampant in those systems? How about the fact the IRS absorbs 25% of tax revenues as “overhead”? Now the left wants to nationalize/socialize another huge segment of the economy with socialized health care! Hey, why not, with the “great work” in keeping fraud low in the above, why not give them trillions of dollars more?
Just fixing the IRS alone would create a HUGE increase in federal revenues. Maybe a flat tax or national sales tax. Or maybe just getting rid of income taxes all together coupled with large reductions in the federal government (starting with Senator’s pensions/healthcare for life and bloated staffs).