Thanks to South Carolina Rep John Spratt

An email from MoveOn:

Dear MoveOn member,

We're one step closer in the fight to end the war. Today the Iraq Accountability Act passed Congress. For the first time, Congress passed a real deadline to end the war—by fall of 2008. Your representative, Congressman John Spratt voted right and helped make that happen.

This was a very hard vote for members of Congress. But Rep. Spratt supported Speaker Pelosi in her strategy to wind down this war. Can you write him a quick note to say 'thanks' for bringing us one step closer and to keep up the fight until all our troops are home?


There's no question that this bill was not as strong as most of us would have wanted—-and we're going to keep fighting together to bring the troops home sooner than next year. But it's an important step forward, and at today's vote 63 of the 71 members of the Out of Iraq Caucus voted for the bill. All but 2 Republicans voted against it.

Now the fight moves to the Senate. If Senators also pass a hard timeline to end the war then this plan goes to the President.

If he makes good on his promise to veto it, he'll be forced to stand up in front of the American people—a strong majority of whom want to set a date to end the war—and argue for a war with no end. And he'll have to veto funds for the war along with the timeline and send the whole thing back to Congress.

Here's my letter to Representative Spratt :

Honorable Rep. Spratt,

thanks for voting to set a date to end the war. I appreciate your stand on ending the war and want you to continue to push leadership to bring our troops home sooner. We must take stronger steps to rein in the President on his failed strategy in Iraq.

I hope humanity will move quickly towards peaceful resolutions of conflicts and learn from this mess that there is a better way. The motivations for this war may never be well known by the masses or accepted by a large segment of people. But we can and should honor our brothers and sisters at arms to only use them when there is NO OTHER WAY and only in self-defense.

This has been and continues to be a sad chapter in American History and I'm glad to see that you are making attempts to "change the course." The power of the Executive Branch and the willingness of a passive and willing legislature, (until now) has brought about such a disdain, distrust and dislike to put it mildly from citizens here and abroad.

Thanks for all you do to stop this madness. I wish I could applauded our Senators, but alas, they are party and presidential loyalists to the end.

Here's the news report from thne AP:

Dems challenge Bush with Iraq timetable

WASHINGTON - The House voted Friday for the first time to clamp a cutoff deadline on the
Iraq war, agreeing by a thin margin to pull combat troops out by next year and pushing the new Democratic-led Congress ever closer to a showdown with
President Bush.


The 218-212 vote, mostly along party lines, was a hard-fought victory for Democrats, who faced divisions within their own ranks on the rancorous issue. Passage marked their most brazen challenge yet to Bush on a war that has killed more than 3,200 troops and lost favor with the American public.

He dismissed their action as "political theater" and said he would veto the bill if it reached his desk. The Senate is about to take up its own version.


The President knows Political Theator---that's all he knows. At least that's all he does...hmmm... Political Theator of the Absurd...that's it.



John Spratt is the Chairman of the House Budget Committee.
The State has called John Spratt "a bridge-builder who can reach across party lines." National Journal featured him on its cover as "a stand-out" in Congress, comparing his legislative skills to the "best infielders in baseball." In Washingtonian magazine's survey, Congressional staff voted him a "Workhorse" and "House Member I'd Like to See Win the Presidency in 2008."


Thanks, John.