Media

Clyburn: Stop Playing Politics with Defense Employees

Washington, D.C. -- House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn today responded to a White House move to "send a message to Congress" about Iraq war funding by threatening to furlough Department of Defense employees. Following is an exchange from today between a reporter and White House spokeswoman, Dana Perino at the daily press briefing.

Anne Flaherty, Associated Press - November 20, 2007

In their latest tussle with the White House on the Iraq war, two leading House Democrats said Tuesday the Pentagon was using scare tactics to try to goad Congress into passing another war spending bill.

And Reps. David Obey and John Murtha said they won't bite. Obey, D-Wis., chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and Murtha, D-Pa., head of the panel's Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, said they won't support more money for the war this year unless President Bush accepts a timetable for troop withdrawals.

The House-passed bill will ensure that only fully mission capable troops may be deployed to Iraq, bars the use of torture, and sets a goal of December 2008 for redeployment of our combat forces.

If this legislation is enacted into law, we can make the American people safer by rebuilding and restoring the readiness and the capacity of our military to protect the American people wherever our interests are threatened.