Nearly 95 percent of these funds will be used to support our men and women in uniform as they help the people of Iraq to take responsibility for their own future — and work to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaida in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
President Barack Obama • In a letter to Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, on the need to pass this bill. When Obama was a senator, he opposed a special war spending bill bill similar to this one (which didn’t, by the way, have an endgame) proposed by Bush. Press secretary Robert Gibbs made light of this, but said it was different because the money would be needed soon. • source
$140 million? Necessary? Uh, yeah, dude. Last night, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal made a critical comment about an appropriation in the stimulus bill for “volcano monitoring” during his rebuttal to President Obama’s speech. But locals near major volcanoes say the money is necessary to prepare for natural disasters – something critics say Jindal should know about, given his state’s recent history with Hurricane Katrina. Plus, the money would create jobs, one expert notes. Jindal isn’t backing down, though. source