Organizing for America

Fact Check: Obama's Consistent Position on Iraq Funding

Rhetoric: Sen. Obama Promised To Oppose Iraq War Funding, Then Voted For Every Iraq War Funding Bill

Reality: Obama Has Remained Consistent in Opposing a Blank Check for Iraq

Since Obama Has Gone to Washington, Every Senate Democrat Has Voted For Every Iraq Funding Bill Until President Bush Vetoed A Timetable For Withdrawal. Since Obama came to Washington in January of 2005, every single Senate Democrat has voted for every single Iraq funding bill that has come to the Senate floor until President Bush vetoed a timetable for withdrawal. [HR 4939, Vote 112, 5/4/06, Passed 78-20, D 43-0; R 34-20; I 1-0; Vote 261, HR 5631, Bill passed, 100-0; D: 44-0: 55-0; I: 1-0] 54-0; I: 1-0; 9/29/06; Vote #366, Conference Report adopted 93-0: R: 51-0; D: 41-0 (ND 37-0, SD 4-0); I: 1-0; 12/21/06; Vote #126, HR 1591, Passed 51-47: R 2-46; D 48-0 (ND 43-0, SD 5-0); I 1-1; 3/29/07]

After Bush Vetoed A Timetable For Withdrawal, Obama Voted Against A Motion To Concur In House Amendments To $120 Billion Emergency Appropriations Bill; Obama Opposed Supplemental Because "It's Time To Change Course." Obama voted against the Reid, D-Nev., motion to concur in the House amendments to the bill that would appropriate $120 billion in fiscal 2007 emergency spending, including $94.4 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama said in a statement, "This vote is a choice between validating the same failed policy in Iraq that has cost us so many lives and demanding a new one. And I am demanding a new one. We must fund our troops. But we owe them something more. We owe them a clear, prudent plan to relieve them of the burden of policing someone else's civil war. We need a plan to compel the Iraqi people to reach a political accommodation and to take responsibility for their own future. It's time to change course. I opposed this war in 2002 precisely because I feared it would lead us to the open-ended occupation in which we find ourselves today. This President has led us down a disastrous path and has arrogantly refused to acknowledge the grim reality of this war, which has cost us so dearly in lives and treasure. After he vetoed a plan that would have funded the troops and begun to bring them home, this bill represents more of his stubborn refusal to address his failed policy. We should not give the President a blank check to continue down this same, disastrous path. With my vote today, I am saying to the President that enough is enough. We must negotiate a better plan that funds our troops, signals to the Iraqis that it is time for them to act and that begins to bring our brave servicemen and women home safely and responsibly." [Vote 181 Motion agreed to 80-14: R 42-3; D 37-10 (ND 32-10, SD 5-0); I 1-1, 5/24/07; Press Release, 5/24/07]

Obama Said That He Would Judge A Benchmark Supplemental On Its Merits, Would Oppose "Giving George Bush A Blank Check." Stephanopoulos asked Obama: "So does that mean next week or the week after when the war funding bill comes forward it doesn't have the time line for withdrawal but it does have benchmarks, you vote for it?" Obama said, "It's going to depend on what the bill looks like. I don't believe in giving George Bush a blank check." [This Week, 5/13/07]

SEP 2003: Obama Said $87B Is A Blank Check. "State Senator Barack Obama...said today that there should be 'no blank check for Iraq' in response to the Bush Administration's request for $87 billion from U.S. taxpayers. 'We should not have gone there in the first place,' Obama said. 'We should not stay there without an end in sight.' Obama challenged the Congress to 'stand up to the misplaced priorities of this Administration' by delaying the $87 billion for Iraq until the President provides a specific plan and timetable for ending the U.S. occupation, justifies each and every dollar to ensure it is not going to reward Bush political friends and contributors, and provides 'investment in our own schools, health care, economic development and job creation that is at least comparable' to what is going to Iraq. 'It's not just Iraq that needs rebuilding. It's America, too,' Obama said. [Press Release, 9/28/03]