On the April 19 broadcast of KCNC's CBS4 News at 5 a.m., co-anchor Brooke Wagner's report on the stalemate over funding for the Iraq war uncritically noted a conservative talking point from U.S. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) that Congress' Iraq spending bills “handcuff[] our troops” and add “tens of billions of dollars worth of unnecessary spending.”
Wagner's report stated that, after a meeting at the White House on April 18, “not much has changed in the minds of President Bush or Democratic leaders” in their clash over appropriations for the war. As Colorado Media Matters has noted, the House passed an emergency supplemental spending bill on March 23 that provides more than $100 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Washington Post reported that the bill includes a series of provisions that mandate standards for training, equipping, and resting combat troops; establish security benchmarks for the Iraqi government; and, most notably, require that U.S. combat forces begin to withdraw from Iraq in March 2008 and leave Iraq completely by August 31, 2008. The U.S. Senate on March 29 passed a similar spending bill that provides funds for both wars and also mandates that U.S. troops begin redeploying from Iraq within 120 days of the bill's passage, with a nonbinding goal of ending combat operations there by March 31, 2008. The Senate and House are expected to reconcile the bills in conference and send a final version to the president for his signature. Bush has promised to veto any bill if it includes a timeline for the redeployment of troops from Iraq.
In contrast to Boehner's complaint that the two measures contain “tens of billions of dollars worth of unnecessary spending,” the Post noted on April 4 that non-war related spending “has been part of Iraq funding bills since the war began [in 2003, under a Republican-controlled Congress], sometimes inserted by the president himself, sometimes added by lawmakers with bipartisan aplomb.” As the Post reported, and CBS4 ignored:
The president's own request last year for emergency war spending included $20 billion for Gulf Coast hurricane recovery, $2.3 billion for bird flu preparations, and $2 billion to fortify the border with Mexico and pay for his effort to send National Guardsmen to the southern frontier.
The Republican-controlled Senate tried to load the 2006 bill with $4 billion for agricultural subsidies, $1.1 billion for the Gulf Coast fishing industry, $594 million for highway projects unrelated to Hurricane Katrina, and $700 million for rerouting a rail line in Mississippi.
Colorado Media Matters repeatedly has noted (here, here, here, and here) that Colorado news outlets -- including CBS4, in a previous report -- have uncritically reported misleading Republican criticism of Democrats regarding the Iraq spending bills.
From the April 19 broadcast of KCNC's CBS4 News at 5 a.m.:
WAGNER: Even after an hourlong meeting, not much has changed in the minds of President Bush or Democratic leaders. Both sides say they're willing to work together to find a compromise for a war spending bill. But right now, no one is budging.
[begin video clip]
BOEHNER: And he [Bush] clearly isn't going to sign a bill that handcuffs our troops and adds these tens of billions of dollars worth of unnecessary spending as part of this bill.
U.S. REP. STENY HOYER (D-MD): We need to recognize that neither side can act without the others, and not acting is not an option.
[end video clip]
WAGNER: Both the House and Senate have passed funding bills that set timetables for withdrawing troops from Iraq. The president has promised to veto any bill that sets a deadline for troop withdrawal.
