Howard T Pomeroy

WASHINGTON With their ranks infused with anti-war sentiment, Democrats controlling the House inched forward Thursday with a plan to both finance President Barack Obama's Afghanistan troop surge and salvage their dwindling jobs agenda. Long delayed, the measure came to the floor Thursday amid building pressure on Democrats to act before their weeklong Fourth of July break begins. Democrats were optimistic that the war funding measure would pass late Thursday after Democrats added billions of dollars for domestic programs such as $10 billion in grants to school districts to avoid teacher layoffs and money to improve security along the U.S.-Mexico border. The White House weighed in with a veto threat over $800 million in cuts to education programs. The cuts would be used to help pay for the additional domestic spending, which was sought by top Democrats such as Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey of Wisconsin. The move infuriated Obey, who acidly pointed out that he had drafted last year's economic stimulus bill, which contained the money and that even with the $800 billion cut, more than $3 billion would be left over. The House measure is anchored by a nearly $60 billion Senate-passed measure that blends $30 billion for the influx of 30,000 troops into Afghanistan with money for disaster aid accounts, foreign aid and disability benefits for Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange. The Senate passed the measure in May, but House leaders have been short of solutions and votes. The delays have eroded whatever leverage House Democrats may have in upcoming dealings with the Senate and the White House, which seem to want the House to adopt the Senate measure to speed the war funding into law as soon as possible. The House measure has been promised a cold shoulder from Senate Republicans, who would have the votes to filibuster it, according to Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, a senior Republican whose support was central to Senate passage. The prospect of further deadlock and delays in providing troop funds has Democrats like Rep. Earl Pomeroy of North Dakota pressing House leaders to simply accept the bipartisan Senate measure so it can be signed promptly by Obama. "There's a difference between passing and enacting," Pomeroy said. "And it's time we enact something." But top Democrats such as Obey and Speaker Nancy Pelosi are insisting on additional domestic spending, viewing the war funding bill as their last, best shot to resuscitate their faltering jobs agenda. Black lawmakers are pressing for add-ons of their own, including a $1 billion summer jobs initiative, which is so delayed that it couldn't be implemented this summer, and money to pay discrimination claims by black farmers against the Agriculture Department. They also hope to add money to pay claims related to the government's management and accounting of more than 300,000 trust accounts of American Indians. The measure is coming to the floor under a remarkably convoluted process designed to allow lawmakers to avoid a direct up or down vote on the entire measure. A successful vote to begin debate would essentially approve the war money. But the measure would officially pass only if one or more amendments are adopted; the most likely add-ons would add domestic money or require the administration to submit a plan to redeploy troops from Afghanistan. But Republicans supportive of the Afghanistan effort are promising to vote against the war funding in a crucial test vote, which means Democrats would have to pass it with the support of anti-war lawmakers. Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., who gave Obama the benefit of the doubt in a comparable Afghanistan war vote last year, says he's voting "no" this time around. "It's become more and more evident to me that there isn't a clearly defined mission," Yarmuth said. But Republicans supportive of the war effort are promising to vote against the bill because of the non-war additions. "To be using the Afghan issue, the war fighters, the military as pawns ... it's like no respect at all for the military," said Rep. Howard McKeon of California, top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee. "This should have been passed a long time ago." The GOP opposition comes despite almost $12 billion in spending cuts to finance the new initiatives, including money cut from last year's stimulus measure and $500 million cut from the Education Department's showcase Race to the Top grant program. The cut in Race to the Top earned a public rebuke from the White House and the veto threat. "We do not believe that taking money out of that important investment makes any sense at all," press secretary Robert Gibbs said. Unspent defense funds would also be cut, along with highway spending authority and money from community development and rural Internet projects. The new Democratic spending includes a $10 billion "education jobs fund" that's less than half of a $23 billion plan unveiled this spring. Amid growing violence along the U.S.-Mexico border, there's also $700 million in new money to hire more border patrol agents and pay for other border security initiatives, though $200 million in previously appropriated money for a border fence, popular with Republicans, would be rescinded. And there's $18 billion in new Energy Department loan guarantees, to be evenly split between nuclear and renewable energy projects. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has been agitating for the war money, requested in February, but the real deadline for Congress isn't until its August recess. Still, pressure is mounting on Democrats to release the war funds so the Pentagon doesn't have to employ painful bookkeeping maneuvers to maintain the war effort.

As it stands, Congress is more polarized than at any time since Reconstruction, according to data compiled by Keith Poole and Howard Rosenthal ... Apparently that wasn't enough: For the first time since he was elected in 1976, Hatch failed ...

This didn’t happen,” Risen said ... “We are upset on their behalf and on behalf of public history,” Pomeroy said. “It is an unfortunate set of circumstances that has occurred.” Howard Kittell, president and CEO of The Hermitage ...