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Wednesday, January 17, 2007
House Republicans seek to prohibit Iraq funding cut-off

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- House Republicans plan to introduce a bill Wednesday that would prohibit Congress from cutting off funding for troops in the field.

House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, announced that Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Texas, a former Vietnam prisoner of war, will sponsor the bill.

Boehner argued that President Bush's Iraq strategy, which would add 21,500 troops to the Iraq war effort, deserves a full hearing and called on Democratic leaders who are criticizing it to offer their own plan.

"And for those who don't agree with the president's plan, what's their alternative, what's their plan?" he said. "We have a new majority in the House and Senate and I think that at some point they need to begin acting like a majority and that means that if you don't approve of the president's idea and his plan, you're required, really, to put one forward and we've not seen that yet."

Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Virginia, said Republicans and Democrats should agree on supporting continued funding for troops and that Johnson's experience in Vietnam gives him insight into the debate on funding the war in Iraq. "He knows what it feels like sitting in a cell when
Congress cuts off funding for a war, and he'll never let that happen again,"
Cantor said.

A Republican aide emphasized that unlike the expected Iraq resolution sponsored by Democrats on the president's proposal, the GOP proposal would be a new law.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's spokesman, Brendan Daly, said, "It sounds like they're trying to play politics. We've said repeatedly we support funding for troops in the field."

-- CNN Congressional Producer Deirdre Walsh

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