Let the guessing begin! (response)

This $25 billion request is nonsense. Everyone in Washington knows that the Bush administration is low balling the appropriation to lower voters' "sticker shock" until after November. There is already an open secret that there will be a further request for the balance of the bill in February (right after what they hope will be Bush's second inauguration).

Here is what I think Senator Kerry should do. Don't simply vote no. Instead, he should propose an amendment to the appropriation that will force the Republicans to vote "no." How? With an amendment with two parts. First, propose that the tax cuts for the top 2% of the income distribution be suspended for the duration of the "war on terror." Second, conditional on the suspension of those tax cuts, increase the appropriation dramatically to bring more in line with what the war is actually costing.

The Senate is a strange place and Kerry might just be able to get the amendment to a floor vote. If he can, it would force the Republicans go on the record as preferring tax cuts for the rich to more money for our troops.

If it passes, Kerry got rid of the tax cuts until the Republicans admit that the "war on terror" is a rhetorical device as much as a real war. If it fails, Kerry can claim, "I proposed a substantial increase in the funding for our troops and the Republican leadership killed the proposal in committee to protect tax cuts for their fat cat friends." That way even if he votes "no" he can say he voted "no" because the amount was too small.