Senate Follows Lee's Lead on Permanent Bases
(Washington, DC) – Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), whose amendment to prevent the establishment of permanent military bases in Iraq was approved by the House, praised the Senate for their vote today in support of a similar measure introduced by Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE).
“Despite all of the division and the partisanship about when to leave Iraq and under what circumstances, I think there is one thing that EVERYONE ought to be able to agree on, namely that we should not be in Iraq permanently,” said Lee. “I applaud the Senate for taking this common sense step. As long as we keep the door to a permanent military presence open, we will continue to fuel the insurgency, undermine the security situation and keep the targets on our troops’ backs.”
Biden’s amendment, which would prevent funds from the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill from being used to establish permanent military bases in Iraq, was approved by the Senate today. Lee’s amendment was unanimously approved by the House on March 16th on a voice vote.
In 2005, Lee introduced H.Con.Res. 197, to make it “the policy of the United States not to enter into any base agreement with the Government of Iraq that would lead to a permanent United States military presence in Iraq,” which now has the bipartisan support of 81 cosponsors.
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