Rep. Tom Allen: “The Will of the People’s House Is Clear: No Permanent Bases in Iraq”
House resoundingly rejects amendment to remove permanent bases ban modeled on legislation Congressman Allen proposed last year
Washington, D.C.---U.S. Representative Tom Allen today applauded the resounding defeat last night of an amendment to the defense appropriations bill to remove language prohibiting the use of funds to establish permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq. The House rejected the amendment, introduced by Representative Steve King (R-IA), on a widely bipartisan vote of 50-376. The King amendment would have removed Section 9012 of the bill which prohibits the use of funds to negotiate a basing rights agreement with Iraq.” This language mirrors H.R. 3142, the Iraq Sovereignty Promotion Act, bipartisan legislation Representative Allen introduced last year.
“The will of the People’s House is clear: no permanent U.S. bases in Iraq,” Representative Allen said. “This overwhelming rejection of the King amendment sends a clear message to Republican leaders who, behind closed doors two weeks ago, removed the same language from legislation passed by both Houses of Congress in defiance of Democrats and their own rank and file. It reveals an enormous fissure within the Republican Party over a fundamental aspect of the war in Iraq.”
On March 16th, the House approved by voice vote an amendment to H.R. 4939, the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill, offered by Representative Allen and Representative Barbara Lee of California. The full Senate agreed to a similar amendment to the bill offered by Delaware Senator Joe Biden. However, a House-Senate conference committee removed the ban on permanent bases, and House leaders refused to allow an amendment to restore the language when the House voted on H.R. 4939 on June 12th.
“The possibility of permanent American bases in Iraq has helped to fuel the insurgency and has aroused public hostility against the U.S. throughout the Islamic world,” Representative Allen said. “The ban is consistent with repeated statements from President Bush, Secretary Rumsfeld and other Administration officials. By wide margins, House and Senate members from both sides of the aisle support this ban as a step toward bringing a halt to the violence and chaos that plague Iraq. If Republican Congressional leaders attempt again to strip the ban from this bill, it will be clear they are defying the will of the Congress.”
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