October 2nd, 2008
10:25 PM ET
14 years ago

Fact Check: Did Obama vote to cut funds for troops?

[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/10/02/art.obama.d.gi.jpg caption="Get the facts!"]

The Statement:
At an Oct. 2 debate in St. Louis, Missouri, Republican vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin was talking about support for U.S. troops overseas. "I know that the other ticket opposed this surge - in fact, even opposed funding our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Barack Obama voted against funding
troops after promising that he would not do so," she said.

Get the facts!

The Facts:
On May 24, 2007, Obama was one of 14 senators who voted against a war-spending plan that would have provided emergency funds for American troops overseas. He, like many Democrats, was pushing for an end to the war in Iraq, and the legislation included no provisions for that. "We must fund our troops," Obama said that day in a news release. "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." Republican nominee Sen. John McCain, and Obama's running mate Sen. Joe Biden, voted in favor of that resolution.

Obama had supported, and voted for, an earlier version of the bill that would have provided the money for the troops but established a timeline for Bush to begin bringing them home. Biden also voted for that version of the plan.

McCain was one of three senators who did not vote that day - but he urged Bush to veto it after it passed 51-46 on April 26, 2007. "I look forward to the president's prompt veto of this misguided bill," McCain said in a written statement. Bush did veto the measure on May 1, 2007, leading to the second
vote.

Verdict:
Misleading. Obama supported a different version of the troop-funding plan - one that McCain spoke against.

soundoff (No Responses)

Comments are closed.