It seemed like such a no-brainer. The existing budget for military housing is poised to run out of money and without a new infusion of funds, new housing for 50,000 military families would be delayed. Dems pushed a provision yesterday that would add the necessary funds to offset the shortfall.
It’s an easy one, right? This is an election year, troops are in harm’s way overseas, and no one wants to be viewed as opposing the needs of military families. Or so I thought.
Making a tough choice with U.S. troops still in Iraq, the House on Wednesday sided with the Republican leadership to embrace spending restraint over an expansion of a program to improve military housing.
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, underscored the election-year sensitivity of the faceoff on a military spending bill, saying after the vote that lawmakers might reverse their decision in later legislation.
In a near party-line 212-211 procedural vote, lawmakers signaled their willingness to remove a provision expanding the housing program by $500 million from a $10 billion military construction bill for next year.
Republican incompetence never ceases to amaze me. Consider this gem:
“If we’re going to send them to war, we owe them a quality of life that’s better than so many of them are living today,” House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Young, R-Fla., said of the troops.
Young then voted against the new funding for military housing.
In fact, the closer one looks at the provision and the debate over the funding, the worse yesterday’s debacle looks.
Republicans largely voted against the measure because they expressed concern over spending and spiraling deficits. I know $500 million sounds like a lot of money, but we’re talking about Republicans who enthusiastically embrace trillions of dollars in tax cuts.
Indeed, the very day the House voted to reject new funding for military housing, these same lawmakers voted for a new business tax cut worth $1.2 billion — more than double the funds Dems wanted for military families.
And just when this couldn’t seem any stranger, Tom DeLay, who orchestrated yesterday’s vote, assured everyone that the money for the program may get expanded after all.
DeLay told a reporter that while GOP leaders wanted to win the procedural vote, they might still do something to expand the program.
“We’re still in the majority and can fix it,” he said.
But this makes even less sense. If DeLay and the rest of the GOP leadership really do plan on adding the funding for housing, why not just vote for it the first time?
Oh, and as if this mess wasn’t troubling enough, DeLay flouted the House voting rules. Again.
The language seemed likely to be deleted from the legislation later in the day’s debate. The roll call ran 23 minutes beyond the usual 15 minutes as GOP leaders nailed down the votes they needed to prevail.
They just have no shame.