Surprise.
Sen. Russ Feingold’s bill calling for US troop withdrawals from Iraq to begin within 120 days is being debated by the US Senate — thanks to the Republicans who want to kill the bill but think they have an advantage in talking about Iraq.
Plus, John McCain has just said that if he can’t persuade the American people that staying in Iraq is the right course, he will lose the election.
So, on a 70-24 vote, the Senate agreed to take up Feingold’s bill. Only 26 Democrats voted to take it up.
Feingold’s bill won’t pass, of course. No Republican has ever actually voted for it in the past.
But it will be debated, along with amendments, all day Wednesday, apparently, the Washington Post reports:
In five previous efforts during the past 20 months, Feingold has never received even 30 votes to bring his bill to the floor for debate. Not a single Republican had supported Feingold’s withdrawal bills, which have been considered the strictest offered in terms of requiring troop withdrawals from Iraq.
This Feingold bill would mandate troop redeployments out of Iraq within 120 days of being signed into law, while allowing funds to be spent for just a few reasons there: ongoing counter-terrorist operations, protecting the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, training Iraqi forces and on the actual redeployment of U.S. forces out of Iraq.
“Keeping our troops in Iraq will not solve Iraq’s problems,” Feingold said during the debate today. “And it won’t help us address the growing threat by al-Qaeda around the world.”
Most interesting is the list of Democrats who voted against taking up the bill. Here they are:
Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Biden (D-DE)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Conrad (D-ND)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Johnson (D-SD)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (ID-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
McCaskill (D-MO)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reed (D-RI)
Salazar (D-CO)
Tester (D-MT)
Webb (D-VA)
Dems not voting:
Byrd (D-WV)
Clinton (D-NY)
Obama (D-IL)
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