Congress sneaks in Iraq funding

By Libby Updated below This almost slipped by me this week. While they were busy authorizing spending to keep the government running, the Senate also handed Bush another huge blank check, to continue his Iraq folly uninterupted. The Senate agreed on Thursday to increase the federal debt limit by $850 billion -- from $8.965 trillion to $9.815 trillion -- and then proceeded to approve a stop-gap spending bill that gives the Bush White House at least $9 billion in new funding for its war in Iraq. Additionally, the administration has been given emergency authority to tap further into a $70 billion "bridge fund" to provide new infusions of money for the occupation while the Congress works on appropriations bills for the Department of Defense and other agencies. Translation: Under the guise of a stop-gap spending bill that is simply supposed to keep the government running until a long-delayed appropriations process is completed -- probably in November -- the Congress has just approved a massive increase in war funding. This is why we need to throw all the bums out. When the cameras are rolling, the Dems and a handful of nervous Republicans, are all for answering to the people's will but the minute our backs are turned, they dishonestly perpetrate the status quo without debate or disclosure. Update: Adding insult to injury, Bush lambasted the Dems in his weekly address for "failing to complete annual spending bills on time" while he signed the measure. You might think he could have thanked them for the free money but the piece didn't even mention the funding. Could it be any more apparent that they struck a deal behind our backs and are actively trying to hide it?