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Update on the Iraq and Afghanistan War Supplemental

By Sunlight Foundation & Participatory Politics Foundation

This post by Isabelle Cutting, OpenCongress Research Assistant.

What?s the latest with the $96.7 billion supplemental war funding bill since it passed through the Senate on May 21st?

H.R.2346 saw resumed action this Thursday thanks to Rep. David Obey [D, WI-7]. Upon his request, the House passed (267-152) a non-binding motion to instruct conferees (Edwards (TX), Granger, DeLauro, Lewis (CA), Lowey, Murtha, Obey, Young (FL)) on the bill. The motion called for the elimination of the Lieberman-Graham amendment. This was the controversial amendment, which sought to bar the release of photos showing potential detainee abuse, thus exempting them from the Freedom of Information Act. Not surprisingly it has received a lot of criticism, namely from Representatives Frank [D, MA-4] and Slaughter [D, NY-28] and now Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.

As of yesterday it has officially been thrown out despite the 95 Democrat votes against Thursday?s motion (and thus by inference, in favor of the amendment). Debate and division remain, however, as the FOIA amendment is replaced with a Cash for Clunkers amendment, and the amendment granting $5 billion to support IMF lending still lies on the table.

Such recent developments throw into question whether there will be enough votes for the supplemental to pass next week.

For more recent info on the supplemental see:

• The Full Conference Report on the Supplemental (Campaign Silo?).

• The 95 democrats who supported Lieberman?s FOIA amendment (Congress Matters).

• Pelosi acrobatics surrounding the bill (CQ).

• Lieberman?s threat to shut down the Senate (Huffington Post).

• An estimate of how much the bill would cost the average American Family (WashingtonWatch).

While voting on this bill heats up in congress, go ahead and vote on bills, issue areas, and Congress members via ?My OpenCongress? and our Battle Royale tool will stack up the results and show you what is trending in our own user community.

Full post as published by Open Congress on June 15, 2009 (boomark / email).