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Republican Leaders to call for "Benchmarks," Oversight Committee
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ShareJanuary 22, 2007 2:15 PM
ABC News' Z. Byron Wolf Reports: At a press conference later today, House Republicans will call on Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to form a bipartisan Iraq Oversight Committee that would get monthly reports from the Bush administration and hold both the White House and the Iraqi Government accountable to "benchmarks."
Yes, you are reading that correctly! Members of the Republican leadership in the House, including Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Fla., and others will hold a press conference today where they will call for accountability from both the Iraqi government and the White House.
Specifically, the GOP congressional leaders want Speaker Pelosi to set up a bipartisan Iraq Oversight Committee that would oversee the implementation of the President's new strategy in Iraq. "The White House would have to report every thirty days on its progress to achieving its Benchmarks," Boehner spokesman Brian Kennedy said.
Interestingly, this House Leaders press conference is scheduled to overlap with another event held by a bipartisan group of Centrist Senators (Republicans John Warner of Virginia and Susan Collins of Maine and Democrat Ben Nelson of Nebraska), where they plan to offer a less harshly worded, non-binding resolution in the Senate, that will criticize the President's surge strategy, but not in as stark a terms as the bipartisan non-binding resolution announced last week by Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., and Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and supported by the Democratic leadership.
While the House Republican proposal is not critical of the President's surge strategy, it is notable for House Republican leaders to call, even if it is a fig leaf, for "benchmarks" for the White House to meet.
The White House tells ABC News that it is "aware" of this move by House Republicans, but Speaker Pelosi has not yet been informed of what the Republican leaders will be calling for.
The "benchmarks for the White House" apes that of several of the Democratic strategic plans (Clinton's and Obama's) that were announced last week.
Kennedy also said the Republican leaders hatched the plan after listening sessions over the past few weeks with members of the House Republican caucus. "Something born of listening sessions the leadership held with all members of the house conference. While the majority of Republicans support the President's plan, this was a framework, the members felt, was appropriate, " he said.
There is not a lot of information yet on what the benchmarks would be, but the consequences for failing to meet them, Kennedy said, would definitely NOT be to cut off funding for troops in harms way.
January 22, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (0)
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