Whitehouse Urges Support of Feingold-Reid Amendment to Require Redeployment from Iraq

Press Release

Whitehouse Urges Support of Feingold-Reid Amendment to Require Redeployment from Iraq

Requiring President Bush to redeploy U.S. forces from Iraq by March 2008 is a smart, responsible strategy that will give the American people the change of course they have demanded, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said today in an address on the Senate floor.

"Because even after all this, this President still refuses to listen to the American people and stubbornly fails to give this country the change of course it demands - it is up to this Congress to act to bring American troops home from Iraq," Whitehouse said. "Some claim this strategy is risky. But the greater risk by far, Mr. President, would be to fail to seize the opportunity a redeployment of our troops presents us."

Whitehouse is a co-sponsor of legislation offered by Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) and supported by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) that would set a March 31, 2008 deadline for redeploying American troops. After that date, funds would only be available for three specific, limited purposes: targeted counterterrorism operations; protecting U.S. infrastructure and personnel; and training and equipping Iraqi security forces.

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