Let’s get this clear, the President’s objection to the war spending bill is of the time line for pulling out of Iraq, not on the amount of money in the bill.

The bill provides $95.5 billion for operations, mainly in Iraq and Afghanistan — $4 billion more than sought by the president. The legislation also includes $6.9 billion for recovery along the Gulf Coast, compared to $3.4 billion sought by the White House. It allocates $650 million on children’s health programs, $400 million on home heating aid and $500 million on wildfire control.

The measure would also provide $3.5 billion to the nation’s farmers, but the Democratic negotiators dropped other farm aid in the wake of accusations from Mr. Bush and Republicans that the bill had been larded with special interest provisions to attract enough votes for passage. Among the spending eliminated was money for spinach growers, Christmas tree farmers, shrimp fisherman and sugar cane growers.

(NYTimes Article by Carl Hulse)

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Please quit trying to confuse people with your rhetoric.

And to the politicians attaching your pork to this bill…Stop. Keep the bill clean. Let it win or lose straight up and down, on its merits. (It seems somewhat clear (to me at least) that the pork funding is to inflate the bottom line.)

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