Iraq Resolution

Dan Boren the Oklahoma delegation's lone democrat was the only Oklahoma Representative to vote for resolution disapproving of the decision of the president to deploy more than 20,000 additional combat troops to Iraq. The vote was 246-182, with 6 not voting. 229 Democrats and 17 Republicans supported the resolution.

While many conservatives viewed the non-binding resolution as a political maneuver, it did have some merits. First and foremost, is that is reestablishes the power of the legislative branch in policy making decisions. In a purely policy sense, trying a similar strategy as previous failures just doesn't make sense.

It seems likely that funding restrictions are next, this will really test the political will of politicians. An idea has been put out that would require benchmarks to be met to ensure funding. I think that this is a good idea; just because it is a war doesn't mean that the government shouldn't be held accountable for their spending. That is what I find most bothering is that reckless war spending that doesn't help our mission in Iraq is allowed to continue with little oversight. As a result of this out of control spending, the other programs in the federal government have been cut. The programs that worry me the most are within the Justice Department, until recent spending cuts, crime was down across the board. Now community policing (a highly successful crime prevention program) and other crime fighting programs have been cut. Several years of year progress could be reversed, I don't want this to be the America our troops come home to. Unless we reduce our spending on Iraq, our country is headed for dire times. Another area of Iraq spending is that government spending on Iraq does not have the same multiplier effect on our economy as domestic based spending, this will become very evident during a recession. It's time we get our financial house in order, because what we do today will have long term consequences.