A spectacular, nasty Washington drama is unfolding which you aren't likely to read about in the New York Times or the Washington Post, until perhaps after the fact. Even if it is reported in these papers, few readers will understand it, because the reporters won't care to understand and explain it, and the critical voices of progressive Democrats in Congress will be ignored in their reporting, even though the actions of progressive Democrats are at the center of the drama.
Early next week, the Administration and the House leadership want to bring to the House floor a war supplemental that includes $100 billion for the International Monetary Fund which will likely be used primarily to bail out European banks from their exposure in Eastern Europe. The IMF will also likely use this money as leverage to impose economic austerity measures, like government budget cuts and punishingly high interest rates, policies that most Democrats oppose - at least, most Democrats oppose them when someone suggests that they be applied in the United States. Because House Republicans object to including the IMF "global bailout" money in the war supplemental, they have pledged to vote no on the supplemental if the IMF money is included. Therefore, the Administration and the House leadership intend to try to pass the war supplemental, including the IMF money, with only Democratic votes. The leadership's first problem is that in May, 51 Democrats voted no on the supplemental. Many of those no votes were motivated by opposition to the Administration's plans to escalate the war in Afghanistan, and the leadership's refusal to allow consideration of Rep. Jim McGovern's amendment requiring the Pentagon to submit to Congress an exit strategy from Afghanistan. As freestanding legislation, McGovern's amendment now has 84 co-sponsors. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/will-34-democrats-oppose_b_211924.html http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/6/5/739234/-Will-34-Democrats-Oppose-Endless-War-and-the-IMF-Bailout -- Robert Naiman Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org [email protected] _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
