President Bush Decides To Veto The National Defense Authorization Act

Budget Policy
By Steven Foley

In a surprising turn around (at least to me) The White House said today that the President plans to veto the bill due to a couple of discrepancies.

One portion would, as the report describes, "imperil Iraqi assets held in the United States, including reconstruction and central bank funds." and the other would "permit plaintiff's lawyers immediately to freeze Iraqi funds and would expose Iraq to massive liability in lawsuits concerning the misdeeds of the Saddam Hussein regime,"

This action will most likely jeopardize a 0.5 percent pay increase for troops which the White House said would work with Congress to correct.

Of course both Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are using this opportunity to object to the Presidents action saying the White House should have raised the issue sooner and a veto would be harmful to armed forces, which is odd considering this Congress (and Congressional Democrats in general) have done more harm to the troops than any other in the history of the U.S.

Here's what their statement said:

"Despite the Administration's earlier support for the Department of Defense authorization bill, it appears that President Bush plans to veto this legislation, which is crucial to our armed forces and their families," Pelosi and Reid said.

"We understand that the President is bowing to the demands of the Iraqi government, which is threatening to withdraw billions of dollars invested in U.S. banks if this bill is signed."

Now I realize a successful Iraq is counterproductive to the liberals’ agenda but this is ridiculous. Iraq threatening to withdraw billions of dollars invested in U.S. banks is a perfectly legitimate tactic to use in defense of overburdening a new and fledgling government! Iraqi officials know the kind of instability this bill opens them too is extremely harmful and possibly devastating to the continuing effort to build a viable government.

Once again it seems the Democrats are looking to impede any progress from occurring in Iraq and it shameful!

The White House added that a 3.5 percent increase in troop pay would go into effect even without the president's signature!


Cross posted from The Minority Report