FEINGOLD TO CONTINUE PUSH TO END OPEN-ENDED MILITARY MISSION IN IRAQ Feingold to Offer Feingold-Reid Legislation as an Amendment to Defense Bill June 13, 2007 Washington D.C. – U.S. Senator Russ Feingold announced today that he will continue his effort to end the open-ended military mission in Iraq and safely redeploy U.S. troops out of the country. Feingold said he and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will offer the Feingold-Reid bill requiring troops to be redeployed by March 31, 2008, after which funding for ongoing military operations, with three narrow exceptions, would end. The bill will be offered as an amendment to Defense Department authorization legislation that the Senate is expected to consider as early as the end of June. “Congress took a step backwards last month when it gave President Bush a blank check to continue his open-ended mission in Iraq,” Feingold said. “We need to keep the pressure on the President and supporters of his disastrous Iraq policy, and the way to do this is by voting on legislation that will end the mistake in Iraq. We should not wait until September to change course, as some have suggested, and we should not be satisfied with proposals that sound good but won’t actually end the war. The way to end this disastrous war is to pass the Feingold-Reid legislation to safely redeploy our troops. No more Americans should die unnecessarily for a war that has over-burdened our military and weakened our national security.”   Fact Sheet on Feingold-Reid A Bill to End the Open-Ended Military Mission in Iraq by March 31, 2008 The Feingold-Reid legislation requires the safe redeployment of U.S. troops by March 31, 2008. The Senate is expected to vote on Feingold-Reid during the upcoming debate on the Department of Defense authorization bill. More than half the Democrats in the Senate voted for Feingold-Reid when it was offered as an amendment in May. Given that a weaker version of this amendment got less than half as many votes a year ago, this recent vote was a significant step toward ending the war. What the Feingold-Reid Bill Does: The bill uses Congress’ constitutional “power of the purse” to force the President to safely redeploy troops from Iraq by March 31, 2008. After the troops are safely redeployed, funding will only continue for three specific and limited purposes: to conduct targeted counterterrorism operations against al Qaeda and other international terrorist organizations to protect U.S. personnel and infrastructure to train and equip Iraqi security forces Experts Debunk War Funding Myth: Former Solicitor General Walter Dellinger, who recently testified before Congress about this approach to end the war, stated, “There would not be one penny less for benefits of the troops” and “there would not be one penny less for supplies or support.” The troops would continue to receive training and equipment before, during, and after their redeployment. As this testimony makes clear, claims that ending funding for the war would cut off resources for the troops and leave them stranded on the battlefield are simply false. The safety of our servicemen and women in Iraq is paramount, and Feingold-Reid focuses on just that – the safe redeployment of U.S. troops out of Iraq. Congress Has Ended Funding for Military Missions Before: The Somalia Example In October 1993, 76 senators voted for an amendment, offered by Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, to end funding for the military mission in Somalia effective March 31, 1994, with limited exceptions. By ending funding for this mission, that overwhelming majority of Senators, including the current Republican leader and whip, required the redeployment of U.S. troops from Somalia.

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