House Majority Leader Suspects GOP Opposition To War Funding A Ploy

By Justin Duckham

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md) theorized Tuesday that Republican opposition to the upcoming War Supplemental Funding BIll may be a ploy to embarrass Democrats.

While Congressional Republicans typically offer broad support for funding U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, this recent bill has garnered criticism for extending a $108 billion line of credit to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a suggestion initially put forward by the Treasury Department to aid the IMF in preventing future financial crises abroad.

Republican Leaders have objected to this aspect of the bill, claiming that the money could inadvertently end up in the wrong hands.

“Handing over billions to the IMF not only saddles young Americans with more debt, but could fund terrorist activity,” said House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va) in a recent statement.  He went on to describe it as “a complete affront to our troops combating terrorism across the globe”.

Hoyer denied the possibility that terrorists could benefit from this, and pointed out that IMF has had Republican support in the past, including from former President George H.W. Bush.

Instead, Hoyer alleged that such opposition may be a political move by Republicans to prevent the bill from passing.  As a result, the Majority Leader explained, the failure to provide funding for the troops will appear to be the Democrats’ fault.

Despite possible back-room strategizing, passing the funding bill, which is expected to be voted on Tuesday or Wednesday, will be a challenge.  As with every war funding bill within recent years, a substantial number of Democrats are expected to vote against it.