Congress extends war funding for Afghanistan

Louis Ciotola
Baltimore County Independent Examiner
July 28, 2010

Congress voted to extend funding for the war in Afghanistan by an additional $59 billion late on Tuesday. A subsequent resolution to pull U.S. forces, including military trainers, out of Pakistan failed by a wide margin.

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

The bill to extend funding for the war in Afghanistan passed by a vote of 308–114. Unlike in past instances, the Democrats came out much stronger against the measure to fund the seemingly perpetual conflict. An impressive 101 Democrats voted no, in opposition to the president.

The Democrats have mounting concerns regarding funding the Afghan War. Most prominent among those concerns is whether or not it is responsible to continue to pay for a possibly unwinnable conflict amid struggling economic conditions at home.

A second bill that would see American military personnel pulled entirely out of Pakistan was defeated heavily by a margin of 372-38. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) explained his argument for voting against the measure by stating that a war resolutions bill should not pertain to areas where there are no ongoing hostilities.

Berman’s remark greatly upset the two main proponents of the bill, Reps. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and Ron Paul (R-Texas).

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