109th Congress / House / 2nd session / Vote 288
- Question: On Agreeing to the Resolution
- Bill: H RES 861
- Vote description: Declaring That the United States Will Prevail in the Global War on Terror, the Struggle to Protect Freedom From the Terrorist Adversary
- Vote type: Yea-and-Nay (Help)
- Result: Passed, 256-153, with 5 voting Present and 19 not voting.
- Date/time: June 16, 2006, 11:17 a.m.
- Republican majority opinion: Yes (Help)
- Democrat majority opinion: No (Help)
Key Vote Analysis
This vote approved a non-binding resolution that pledged support for President Bush's war policy and rejects setting a date for the withdrawal of U.S. forces.
The Washington Post noted that Democrats denounced the resolution as "political gamesmanship aimed at providing ammunition to use against them in November's midterm elections. They argued that the intent was to force lawmakers who oppose Bush's Iraq war policy to effectively cast a vote against winning the war on terrorism if they wanted to register their objections." Republicans held that the vote provided legitimate and necessary support for U.S. troops.
The resolution says that since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, "the terrorists have declared Iraq to be the central front in their war against all who oppose their ideology." It "honors the sacrifices" of U.S. and allied forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and "declares that it is not in the national security interest of the United States to set an arbitrary date for the withdrawal or redeployment" of U.S. troops from Iraq.
The language of the resolution relates the struggle against al-Qaeda and Islamic terrorism with the ongoing conflict in Iraq -- a connection President Bush has made in recent public speeches.
The resolution also "declares that the United States is committed to the completion of the mission to create a sovereign, free, secure and united Iraq," and it congratulates the new Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, and the Iraqi people for participating in the 2005 elections and forming the first democratic government under Iraq's new constitution.
In an indication of the political divisiveness of the war in this election year, 42 Democrats crossed the aisle to vote in favor of the resolution (three Republicans, in turn, voted with the Democrats).
See other key votes in the 109th Congress
