Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Politico falsely reported Bush invited Dems to "negotiate" war spending bill

An April 10 Politico article regarding the standoff between President Bush and Congress over war funding reported that Bush "call[ed] on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid [D-NV] and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi [D-CA] to come to the White House next week to negotiate a 'clean bill' to pay for combat operations" in Iraq and Afghanistan but that Pelosi and Reid "rejected the offer." In fact, White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino clearly stated on April 10 that Bush did not offer to "negotiate." Speaking with reporters, Perino explained that Bush would invite Reid and Pelosi only to "discuss with him how they are going to be able to bring him a clean bill that he can sign." Perino added: "I will point out this is not a negotiation." Moreover, in a joint statement released on April 10, both Pelosi and Reid said that they are "willing to meet with the President at any time," but that they "believe that any discussion of an issue as critical as Iraq must be accomplished by conducting serious negotiations without any preconditions."

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