The house just voted down any additional funding for the war. According to CBS Radio, the house republicans, in an effort to protest a vote, voted "present" on a $163M Iraq War funding bill. In response, House Dems voted AGAINST the bill, which -- tada! -- failed!
(edited to reflect what really happened)
UPDATED with a hat tip to notquitedelilah's comment which inspired me to create the following little piece o' artwork when she wondered if the repubs were "turning blue."
This is the obly kind of Blue that I can see Boehner as...
More as I can find it...
MSNBC link: House rejects Iraq war funding bill
Measure included increased education benefits for vets, taxes on wealthy
WASHINGTON - The House on Thursday passed a Democratic plan sharply boosting education benefits for Iraq-Afghanistan veterans and awarding people whose unemployment benefits have expired with a 13-week extension.
The 266-166 fell short of the two-thirds needed to overcome a promised veto by President Bush.
The Democratic plan would impose a surtax on individual incomes exceeding $500,000 to pay for the 10-year, $52 billion cost of boosting the GI Bill to provide Iraq veterans with college educations. Couples would pay the tax on income exceeding $1 million.
It comes on the heels of the unexpected defeat of a $163 billion bill covering the costs of funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Republicans withheld support for the funding measure in protest of Democratic tactics. That kills the war funding for now, but it'll be revived next week in the Senate.
Emphasis added
So it's not a final blow to war funding, but it's an important first step...
Still searching...
UPDATE: From NBC:
House Rejects $163 Billion War Funding Bill
Republicans Decry Vote
WASHINGTON -- The House has rejected a $163 billion bill to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan into next year.
The 149-141 vote came after Republicans withheld support for the funding measure in protest of Democratic tactics. Some 132 Republicans voted "present." That kills the war funding for now, but it'll be revived next week in the Senate.
GOP Leader John Boehner of Ohio told Democrats they were playing political games with the crucial troop funding bill by adding to it a big increase in education benefits for troops returning from war, additional unemployment insurance for those whose benefits have run out, and a surcharge on wealthy taxpayers.
UPDATE 2: From Reuters:
U.S. House defeats $162.5 bln in new war funds
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday defeated legislation that would have funded the war in Iraq for another year, in a surprise move that the Senate could overturn.
By a vote of 149-141, the Democrat-controlled House rejected a measure that would have given the Pentagon $162.5 billion to keep the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan running through next summer, slightly below President George W. Bush's request.
A large group of anti-war House Democrats voted against the funds. That, coupled with 132 Republicans voting "present," meaning neither "yes" nor "no," killed the measure for now.