Dems Preparing to Give In Again on War Funding

I knew they'd fold under pressure, and according to this Politico article, despite all the heated rhetoric coming from Sen. Harry Reid and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the Dems are getting ready to give into the president's demand for a clean Iraq funding bill:

Each day lately, Democrats inch closer to giving President Bush more money for the war in Iraq without any serious mandates for withdrawing U.S. troops.

Democratic leaders are loath to acknowledge they’ve backed off, but lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, as well as congressional aides, say Democrats are trying to find a way to provide continued troop funding while searching for some compromises that show they’re still intent on challenging the president on the war. ...

According to one senior Democratic lawmaker, there’s a growing discomfort among pro-defense Democrats about linking a $50 billion Iraq measure to troop withdrawal.

“We have to come off this lack of funding for the military operations,” the lawmaker said. “We have to continue the funding. We don’t want to look like we’re against troop funding. ... We should separate the funding discussion from the rest of the war.”

What is it that really has them running scared?

Additionally, lawmakers who represent areas with large military bases fear that layoff notices could go out to civilian military employees just a week before Christmas if the Pentagon has to pull money from other accounts to pay for the war.

“The turmoil caused by shuffling the money is making some people uncomfortable,” said Rep. Adam Putnam of Florida, chairman of the House Republican Conference.

Because federal law requires layoff notices to go out 60 days in advance, some civilian federal workers can expect to receive notices by mid-December if a funding solution isn't found.

Merry Christmas from the Democrats.