Below are excerpts from yesterday\’s MoveOn.org Virtual Town Hall, regarding the presidential candidates\’ view on what should happen after President\’s Bush expected veto of the Iraq war supplemental bill.
From Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.:
I don’t think we should tell President Bush what we will do if he vetoes this legislation.
We need to keep the pressure on him not to veto it, and then we need to do everything we can, which is why I have launched this online petition drive, to have pressure put on Republicans particularly in the Senate, because we have to do everything possible to put pressure on the President so that we can make it absolutely undeniable that we have to reverse course.
And I think we should let the American people understand, and let President Bush fully understand that it is he who is rejecting the funding.
We have passed funding, but we did it within the context of timelines, and if he can be held responsible for, in effect, vetoing the funding because he will not start to follow the will of the American people, and de-escalate this conflict, and bring our troops home, I think that puts tremendous pressure on Republicans who are going to be running for office again in 2008.
From former Sen. John Edwards:
If Bush vetoes funding for the troops, he is the only one standing in the way of the resources they need. Nobody else.
Congress must stand firm. They must not write George Bush another blank check without a timeline for withdrawal. Period.
If Bush vetoes the funding bill, Congress should send another funding bill to him with a binding plan to bring the troops home. And if he vetoes it again, they should do it again.
From Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.:
I’m committed to putting as much pressure on the President and this war as possible in a responsible fashion, and I’m hopeful that the President is going to heed the advice of some of his own party, including Rudy Giuliani to reach an agreement with the Democrats.
But assuming that he vetoes the bill, I’m committed to finding the 67 votes we need to override this veto. I would support putting conditions on the next version of legislation if we can’t muster 67 votes.
And I’m also looking at options of giving the President a much shorter leash moving to appropriate enough money for 3 to 4 months at a time, during which we continue to build more Republican support for veto override.
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