nevadamedic
05-24-2007, 11:20 AM
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush said Thursday that this summer would be a critical time for his Iraq strategy as Congress was poised to vote on a new war spending bill.
Answering reporters' questions at a White House news conference, Bush said once reinforcements are in place in mid-June, he expects "heavy fighting" in the weeks and months to come.
"We can expect more American and Iraqi casualties," Bush said. "We must provide our troops with the funds and resources they need to prevail."
Congress was set to vote Thursday on a war spending bill without troop timetables that have delayed passage of the contentious legislation. The House is to vote this evening, with a Senate vote expected soon after.
Democratic leaders in the House and Senate decided Tuesday to remove troop timetables from the war spending bill after a long fight with the White House that included a rare presidential veto of an earlier version of the legislation.
Supporters of the timetables were unable to muster the two-thirds vote to override Bush's veto.
Rep. Jim Moran, D-Virginia, a member of the House Democratic leadership, criticized Bush Thursday prior to the news conference.
"The Democratic leadership is allowing this bill to pass because unlike the president, they will not leave our troops unprotected in battle," Moran said on the House floor. "It is our troops and their families that are the only ones being asked to make any sacrifice in this war and this president's policy is unworthy of their sacrifice."
Wrangling over the bill has delayed key funding that critics said is threatening to hinder military operations.
Democratic leadership aides in Congress said the benchmarks would be tied to Iraq reconstruction aid and would require Bush to present to Congress numerous reports before August.
Bush said his "new strategy is designed to help Iraq's leaders provide security for their people, and get control of their capital so they can move forward with reconciliation and reconstruction," Bush said. The president explained that his plan "is designed to take advantage of new opportunities to partner with local tribes to go after al Qaeda in places like (the) Anbar (province), which has been the home base of al Qaeda in Iraq."
The aides said Democrats won't give up on a deadline for pulling troops out of Iraq, hoping to write language into defense appropriations and defense authorization bills over the summer.
Bush tied Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program to a question about U.S. reasons for invading Iraq and toppling Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
"It would have been a really dangerous world if you'd had the Iranians trying to develop a nuclear weapon and Saddam Hussein competing for a nuclear weapon," said Bush. "You can imagine what the mentality of the Middle East would have been like."
Bush: Attorneys probe 'political theater'
Bush's news conference comes a day after former Justice Department official Monica Goodling testified that Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty was "not fully candid" about the 2006 firings of U.S. attorneys.
The Justice Department's "exhaustive investigation," Bush said, is being "dragged out for political reasons." Describing the probe as "grand political theater," Bush said "if there's wrongdoing, it will be taken care of."
On Wednesday, Goodling told a Capitol Hill committee about an "uncomfortable" conversation with Attorney General Gonzales about the shake-up. Bush has stood by Gonzales despite bipartisan calls for his ouster.
Goodling, a former Gonzales aide and the Justice Department's White House liaison, also acknowledged Wednesday that she screened job applicants based on political ties -- something she said she regretted. (Read more about Goodling's testimony)
Bush: Immigration bill will help millions
Bush also answered questions Thursday on the immigration proposal as lawmakers consider a compromise bill on the contentious issue.
"Those who are looking to find fault with this bill will always be able to find something," Bush said. "But if you're serious about securing our borders and bringing millions of illegal immigrants in our country out of the shadows, this bipartisan bill is the best opportunity to move forward."
The immigration bill would offer the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants now in the United States a path to citizenship, boost border controls and establish a guest worker program that would grant two-year residency for hundreds of thousands of people.
On Wednesday, senators voted to reduce the number of guest workers that would be allowed into the country from 400,000 to 200,000. (Read more about the Senate vote)
But some Democrats don't like the guest worker program because they think it drives down wages for American workers and creates a permanent underclass of immigrant workers.
Republicans generally favor a strong guest worker program because businesses say they need the labor, but the bill has drawn fire from some conservative critics, who blasted it as "amnesty" for undocumented workers. (Read more about the immigration legislation)
"This bill does not grant amnesty," Bush said. "Amnesty is forgiveness without a penalty. Instead, this bill requires workers here illegally to acknowledge that they broke the law, pay a fine, pass background checks, remain employed and maintain a clean record."
Thursday's Rose Garden event is the president's 35th formal news conference. His previous official formal news conference was February 14, 2007 in the East Room. However, Bush did take questions after making a statement on April 3 about the war spending bill.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/05/24/bush/index.html
Answering reporters' questions at a White House news conference, Bush said once reinforcements are in place in mid-June, he expects "heavy fighting" in the weeks and months to come.
"We can expect more American and Iraqi casualties," Bush said. "We must provide our troops with the funds and resources they need to prevail."
Congress was set to vote Thursday on a war spending bill without troop timetables that have delayed passage of the contentious legislation. The House is to vote this evening, with a Senate vote expected soon after.
Democratic leaders in the House and Senate decided Tuesday to remove troop timetables from the war spending bill after a long fight with the White House that included a rare presidential veto of an earlier version of the legislation.
Supporters of the timetables were unable to muster the two-thirds vote to override Bush's veto.
Rep. Jim Moran, D-Virginia, a member of the House Democratic leadership, criticized Bush Thursday prior to the news conference.
"The Democratic leadership is allowing this bill to pass because unlike the president, they will not leave our troops unprotected in battle," Moran said on the House floor. "It is our troops and their families that are the only ones being asked to make any sacrifice in this war and this president's policy is unworthy of their sacrifice."
Wrangling over the bill has delayed key funding that critics said is threatening to hinder military operations.
Democratic leadership aides in Congress said the benchmarks would be tied to Iraq reconstruction aid and would require Bush to present to Congress numerous reports before August.
Bush said his "new strategy is designed to help Iraq's leaders provide security for their people, and get control of their capital so they can move forward with reconciliation and reconstruction," Bush said. The president explained that his plan "is designed to take advantage of new opportunities to partner with local tribes to go after al Qaeda in places like (the) Anbar (province), which has been the home base of al Qaeda in Iraq."
The aides said Democrats won't give up on a deadline for pulling troops out of Iraq, hoping to write language into defense appropriations and defense authorization bills over the summer.
Bush tied Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program to a question about U.S. reasons for invading Iraq and toppling Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
"It would have been a really dangerous world if you'd had the Iranians trying to develop a nuclear weapon and Saddam Hussein competing for a nuclear weapon," said Bush. "You can imagine what the mentality of the Middle East would have been like."
Bush: Attorneys probe 'political theater'
Bush's news conference comes a day after former Justice Department official Monica Goodling testified that Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty was "not fully candid" about the 2006 firings of U.S. attorneys.
The Justice Department's "exhaustive investigation," Bush said, is being "dragged out for political reasons." Describing the probe as "grand political theater," Bush said "if there's wrongdoing, it will be taken care of."
On Wednesday, Goodling told a Capitol Hill committee about an "uncomfortable" conversation with Attorney General Gonzales about the shake-up. Bush has stood by Gonzales despite bipartisan calls for his ouster.
Goodling, a former Gonzales aide and the Justice Department's White House liaison, also acknowledged Wednesday that she screened job applicants based on political ties -- something she said she regretted. (Read more about Goodling's testimony)
Bush: Immigration bill will help millions
Bush also answered questions Thursday on the immigration proposal as lawmakers consider a compromise bill on the contentious issue.
"Those who are looking to find fault with this bill will always be able to find something," Bush said. "But if you're serious about securing our borders and bringing millions of illegal immigrants in our country out of the shadows, this bipartisan bill is the best opportunity to move forward."
The immigration bill would offer the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants now in the United States a path to citizenship, boost border controls and establish a guest worker program that would grant two-year residency for hundreds of thousands of people.
On Wednesday, senators voted to reduce the number of guest workers that would be allowed into the country from 400,000 to 200,000. (Read more about the Senate vote)
But some Democrats don't like the guest worker program because they think it drives down wages for American workers and creates a permanent underclass of immigrant workers.
Republicans generally favor a strong guest worker program because businesses say they need the labor, but the bill has drawn fire from some conservative critics, who blasted it as "amnesty" for undocumented workers. (Read more about the immigration legislation)
"This bill does not grant amnesty," Bush said. "Amnesty is forgiveness without a penalty. Instead, this bill requires workers here illegally to acknowledge that they broke the law, pay a fine, pass background checks, remain employed and maintain a clean record."
Thursday's Rose Garden event is the president's 35th formal news conference. His previous official formal news conference was February 14, 2007 in the East Room. However, Bush did take questions after making a statement on April 3 about the war spending bill.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/05/24/bush/index.html