Hodes on Iraq - Keep Funding It, Just Through Regular Appropriations

I wrote the earlier post prior to noticing that Rep. Hodes has recently signed onto a bill dealing with the War in Iraq.

This legislation, H.Res 97, would require a quarterly report on how reconstruction funds are being spent in Iraq and further states that Congress:

(1) should create a Truman Committee to conduct an ongoing study and investigation of Operation Iraqi Freedom contracts;
(2) that funding requests for Operation Iraqi Freedom beginning with FY2008 must come through the regular appropriations process and not through emergency supplementals; and
(3) the Administration should condition further American financial, military, and political resources upon improvement in Iraqi assumption of principal responsibility for internally policing Iraq.

This is a pretty coherent position, and, frankly, one that almost any fiscal conservative should agree with. We definitely need to investigate spending in Iraq, if for no other reason than to end years of unsubstantiated allegations of widespread abuse, we should impose general spending restraint by putting money for the war "on the books," and we need to hold the Iraqi's responsible for their efforts at self governance. Even President Bush agrees with the later of these requests.

The only real policy question I think is raised by this resolution (beyond the fact that it's a resolution and not a law) is how placing the war "on budget" is going to affect the democrats self-imposed pay-go requirements. Are we simply going to reduce military spending across the board (placing our nation at risk from other adversaries) or is Mr. Hodes willing to responsibly limit domestic spending to make up the cost difference? I think not, if history serves, this resolution calls for a massive tax increase.