Obama, Democrats Likely at Odds on Afghanistan
Top congressional leaders, Chairmen and ranking members of the Armed Services, Foreign Affairs and Appropriations committees have been invited to the White House late Tuesday afternoon to meet with the president for an advanced briefing on the new policy. And it could be tense.
It is expected that Mr. Obama will announce that he will deploy 30,000 to 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan. That's in addition to 68,000 U.S. troops already in that country, bringing the total number of soldiers to around 100,000. Both the White House Office of Management and Budget and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen have estimated that it would cost $1 billion for each thousand additional troops to pay for logistical support, salaries, equipment, transportation and additional training.
CBSNews.com Special Report: Afghanistan
That cost issue has become a real target for at least two Democrats invited to Tuesday's meeting. The first is the powerful Chairman of the House Appropriations committee, David Obey (D-WI). It's often said that the Appropriations Committees hold the purse strings in Congress. Any additional war spending would have to go through Chairman Obey, and he's threatening to tie those strings tight.
The second member with issues on cost is the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services committee Carl Levin (D-MI). Levin would also like a tax to pay for the war, but only on high income earners making over $200,000 and $250,000 per year.
Then there are political challenges. Speaker Nancy Pelosi is also invited to the White House Tuesday, and she has acknowledged that there is not a lot of support in the Democratic Caucus for any kind of surge in Afghanistan. The last war funding bill passed – but 32 Democrats in the House, mostly progressives, voted against the final measure. And that was at the very beginning of the Obama presidency, when his popularity was at an all-time high.
If the president reaches out for support for sending more troops to Afghanistan at Tuesday's meeting, he's most likely to find some from Republicans who've been stalwart critics of the Obama Administration's domestic agenda. Mr. Obama will need GOP votes to give members of his own party leeway to vote against additional war funding. House and Senate Republicans have amped up criticism of the president's handling of Afghanistan in recent weeks, pressuring Mr. Obama to quickly accept General Stanley McChrystal's request for additional troops. House Minority Leader John Boehner accused the Obama administration of "dragging its feet."
Republicans will likely be supportive of the troop increase, but Boehner's spokesman Michael Steel cautions that Republicans "will be closely examining how the policies, troop levels, and resources the president announces address the needs and issues raised in General McChrystal's assessment." Steel said Republicans will want explanations for any differences.
In many ways, President Obama's meeting Tuesday with divided Congressional leaders will be a good warm-up for his address to a divided nation over what the long-term strategy in Afghanistan should be.
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