On March 23rd I wrote about the $122 Billion Supplemental Appropriations bill passing through the House by a close count, (218-212) and said that I expected the bill to be defeated in the Senate. Imagine my surprise when the bill passed, upon the 50-48 vote defeating an amendment by Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) that would have removed requirements of phased withdrawals of troops beginning within 120 days of enactment. What I had envisioned was a hard-fought floor debate with the usual Republican Party lies and obfuscations, driving the bill into a conference with House representatives, and the withdrawal benchmarks stripped out to appease the war-crazy shellbacks of the Never-right wing.

The bill as it stands now leaves in place some non-binding political and economic benchmarks for the Iraqi government. If I remember correctly, those benchmarks exist for the present government and any change in government would invalidate the benchmarks. I don’t want to emphasize that last item too much; I’m sure Messers Bu$h and Cheney completely understand the significance of benchmarks that apply to only one government.

Mr Bu$h has insisted that he will veto this bill, with the usual Bu$hCo fertilizer that any Congressional action that tries to tie his hands in any way at all just enables the terrorists, threatens the troops, and why does Congress hate the brave American soldiers, and why is Congress allying itself with those people who hate our freedoms?

These are the protests of a cynical, corrupt criminal in a cynical, corrupt administration.

The Bu$h malAdministration doesn’t really need this money right now; they’ve got untold billions salted away in other budget lines and after all, it’s not real money because our grandchildren and great-grandchildren have to pay the bills.

But it does present a political obstacle for an administration already beset with quite a few problems. There are scandals all over the place, and a new majority in Congress enables the Democrats to start oversight investigations and print subpoenas the way Bu$hCo has printed T-Bills for the last six years.

It’s quite possible the bill passed in the Senate because of all the scandals. After all some of these guys do have to run for re-election next year, and they‘ve probably noticed on trips back home that more and more people are disenchanted with Mr Bu$h’s ego-war. Most likely the incessant, drumbeat tempo of one scandal after another has worn the shine off Mr Bu$h’s name, which has been successfully linked with Iraq.

Scarecrow explains it nicely at Firedoglake:

There are still dozens of other amendments pending on the Senate bill. But if this initial vote holds, the Democrats will go into House-Senate conference committee after both bodies supported some type of timetable for troop withdrawal, along with non-binding benchmarks the Iraqis are expected to meet. The House bill also contains US troop readiness provisions that Murtha championed.

No one yet expects the President to abandon his threat to veto any bill with withdrawal timetables, benchmarks or troop readiness conditions. Nor is anyone predicting the Democrats will suddenly find the additional votes necessary to override that veto. But the President must now pay a price for his veto, and his party may suffer even more.

It would be unrealistic to expect this bill to withstand all the pending amendments and move the White House in its present form. But there are many more bills to be discussed, and voted upon, and each day brings us closer to the November 2008 date when Republican Congress members must justify their blind support of a failed policy from a failed White House.

Every vote the Republicans win to keep the troops there longer adds to the deathtoll of Americans and Iraqis. Every Republican vote to continue the slaughter adds more shattered and maimed American soldiers to an overtaxed and under-prepared medical care system. Each new amputee at Walter Reed underlines the Republican failure to create an American empire in the Middle East. Each flag-draped “transfer tube” snuck home in secrecy during the dark of night marks another chink in the armor of the Republican lie that they support the troops.