Dems riven on ‘war tax’

House Democratic leaders moved swiftly Tuesday to thwart a tax proposal that would pay for the Iraq war, seeking to avoid the label of “tax and spend liberals” as they head into a spending fight with President Bush.

House Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) floated the plan at a Tuesday morning news conference, saying that if the war is worth fighting it should be worth paying for.

{mosads}“If you don’t like the cost, then shut down the war,” Obey said.

Republicans fell over themselves to mock the proposal, with White House Press Secretary Dana Perino leading the charge.

“We’ve always known that Democrats seem to revert to type and they are willing to raise taxes on just about anything,” Perino said. “There’s no need to increase taxes.”

Obey indicated that he did not tell leaders about his tax proposal before floating it. But it had not been a secret; Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.) had talked about it previously. Obey, along with Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) were joining him in supporting the proposal.

The House Democratic leadership quickly started pouring cold water on the idea, with House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) stressing that “this is not a Democratic proposal.”

About two hours later, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) plunged in the knife, issuing a release stating, “Just as I have opposed the war from the outset, I am opposed to a draft and I am opposed to a war surtax.”

Obey’s announcement on the Iraq wartime supplemental spending bill may have a more lasting impact on the Iraq debate. He announced there isn’t going to be a supplemental unless Bush changes course. As chairman of the Appropriations Committee, he controls when and whether to try to send a supplemental to the floor.

 “I have absolutely no intention of reporting out of committee anytime in this session of Congress any such request that simply serves to continue the status quo,” Obey told reporters.  “We desperately need to force the White House into new thinking.”

Obey wants a war spending bill to end U.S. involvement in combat operations by January 2009, allow more rest time for troops between deployments and start a diplomatic surge.

At least one Senate Republican appeared more open to Obey’s war tax plan than Pelosi. Budget Committee ranking member Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) said he probably wouldn’t support the Obey plan, but did not rule out raising some taxes to pay for the war costs.

“Well, I wouldn’t support [the Obey plan] but I think a reasonable way to help to pay for some of this cost of this war does make sense,” Gregg said. “I would think there may be something out there you could look at.”        

Most Senate Republicans, however, signaled they would strongly oppose any effort to raise taxes to pay for the war.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said that Democrats want to look for yet another opportunity to raise taxes.

“I think there’ll be significant resistance to those kinds of ideas here in the United States Senate,” McConnell added.
Republicans said that paying for the war should happen through the supplemental since the current continuing resolution (CR) expires in Nov. 16. “We’ve covered  troop funding for Afghanistan and Iraq through the CR until Nov. 16, but beyond that there is a great need,” McConnell said.  

“And that issue will not be postponed until next year here in the United States Senate. It may be in the House. It will not be in the Senate.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) would not rule out holding the supplemental until there is a change of course in Iraq.

“There is nothing dealing with Iraq that is off the table,” Reid said. He also would not say whether Democrats would complete the supplemental this year, saying the president needs to send to Congress the full details of his $190 billion request, and said Democrats “would take a look at anything he sends.”

Reid would not say whether the Senate would act on the war tax plan, saying it was a House plan that did not appear to have Pelosi’s support.

Other Senate Democrats would not say whether they would support a tax increase.

Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) seemed open to the idea, but cut himself off mid-sentence. “I’m always interested in looking at — we’ll see — no, not yet, we haven’t discussed it yet.”

Obey’s tactic of withholding a supplemental bill, meanwhile, has the political advantage of confronting Bush without forcing vulnerable Democrats to make difficult roll call votes. Democratic leaders are also increasingly making the point that Bush is picking an appropriations fight over $23 billion, and opposing a $35 billion increase for children’s health insurance, but requesting $190 billion for Iraq.

But Republicans predict that Bush will not need to come to the negotiating table because Democratic leaders will relent under the inevitable criticism that they’re not supporting the troops. That is similar to what happened when Bush vetoed this year’s supplemental spending bill. Amid claims from the White House and the Pentagon that war operations were running out of money, they passed a second supplemental with almost no constraints on Bush’s conduct of the war.

Asked if he thought he could force Bush to negotiate, Obey said, “I would always hope the president would find the path to sweet reason.”

And the White House made no move to negotiate, instead making it clear Bush will attack any delay in funding as depriving the troops of the resources they need in Iraq.

“I would find it hard to believe that they would tell these troops that they’re not going to provide them the funding,” Perino said in her daily briefing.

The House on Tuesday passed a bipartisan bill to require the Bush administration to report on its planning for withdrawal. The vote was billed as the first in a series of Iraq votes this month, and it will be followed today with a vote to rein in private contractors in Iraq.

But leaders have not made clear what the next major bill will be. Hoyer and Pelosi, when pressed, generally complain about Senate Republicans blocking progress on Iraq legislation. On Tuesday though, Hoyer did float the idea of another vote on Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Rep. Ellen Tauscher’s (D-Calif.) proposal for troops to get more time at home between deployments to Iraq.

“We will certainly reconsider the Tauscher bill,” Hoyer said.