House Republican Whip Roy Blunt (from Missouri) has joined with Republican Leader John Boehner (from Ohio) to call for a bipartisan select panel charged with monitoring the implementation of President Bush’s new strategy for the war in Iraq.
Here’s more from the official press release put out today by the Office of House Republican Whip Roy Blunt.
“Speaker Pelosi has often voiced support for just this kind of bipartisan effort to review a serious policy matter,” Blunt said. “There is no more serious policy area facing our nation today than the execution of the president’s policy in Iraq.
“Before anyone in the House moves to disavow the war or cut funding for the president’s policy in Iraq, we propose that Congress exercise its important constitutional responsibility for oversight of the plan,” Blunt continued.
“The benchmarks laid out today are stepping stones on which we should all agree,” Blunt said. “All members, Republicans and Democrats, should want the president’s plan to succeed. This success is going to require extra effort by the Iraqi government to secure their country, and the benchmarks laid out by the leader in his letter to Speaker Pelosi are designed to monitor the Iraqis’ progress toward that goal.
“I look forward to working with the whole Congress to make sure we are conducting the oversight that is necessary when American lives are at risk and our troops are carrying out their mission far away from their families and loved ones.”