And for a good reason – it was an incredibly obvious trap for Democrats, even if was a response to the Obama administration not issuing guidelines that would fund active duty military. Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., a 22-year veteran before coming to Congress, went after Republicans for trying to bait Democrats into passing a CR they didn’t want.
The House Majority has now placed the funding for the Department of Defense and the funding for the troops down as a bargaining chip. In the last 100 days, the House Majority could have passed at any point in time a separate stand alone Appropriations for the Department of Defense and the funding for our men and women in uniform.
When I talked to Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C.
yesterday
, he wasn’t even this harsh. He just refused to agree with Appropriations Chairman Hal Rodgers and say Democrats were voting “against” the troops. “It’s just one of those things,” shrugged Jones. No one was proud of the “troop funding bill,” and the press corps was too familiar with the details of the budget fight to buy the Republican line on it.
