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Sen. McConnell says troop funding missing from defense spending bill

The top Senate Republican is accusing Democrats of making a "conscious decision" to leave war on terror funding out of the Defense Appropriations bill.

The Senate is currently debating a $460 billion defense-spending bill for fiscal year 2008, which began Monday. On the House side, Appropriations Committee chairman David Obey (D-Wisconsin) has vowed he will not bring up a $190 billion supplemental funding request from President Bush until the president includes a change in Iraq policy.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) is urging his Democratic colleagues not to close this session without funding U.S. troops in Iraq. On the Senate floor yesterday, McConnell said Republicans and Democrats have been debating all year about the troops, but the debate has not been about who wants to bring them home.

"It's been a debate about who do you trust to decide when these troops come home, about who has the authority and judgment to make decisions about how to protect our national security interests in the Persian Gulf," stated McConnell. "Republicans think it should be the Commander-in-Chief in consultation with his commanders on the ground." He added that he and his fellow Republicans do not believe American foreign policy should be drafted by liberal, anti-war groups like MoveOn.org and Code Pink.

He says the men and women serving America "deserve better" and calls on his fellow lawmakers to "acknowledge their selfless service and devotion to duty, by giving them exactly what they need before we conclude this session of Congress."

The Senate will be in recess all next week and is scheduled to adjourn November 16.