Frank Moves Away From Anti-War Talk
By Scott Brooks
WASHINGTON – For Rep. Barney Frank, D-MA, who has been a vocal opponent of the upcoming war on Iraq, the time to speak out against the war has passed.
The New Bedford congressman said Tuesday that his anti-war rhetoric will cease now that President Bush has brought the nation to the eve of a war. Rep. Frank, who for months has criticized the administration for rushing to war, said he and fellow Democrats will shift their focus to other issues once the war begins.
“Once it starts, it’s too late,” he said. “I still think it’s a mistake. It clearly can do no good. [But] saying we shouldn’t go to war becomes irrelevant once we go to war.”
Other lawmakers agreed that Congress would do best now to rally behind U.S. troops, who could launch an assault on Iraq as early as Wednesday night. In the Senate, legislators who have spent hours publicizing their opposition to the war, including Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-MA, moved on to other subjects on which to attack the president.
Less than 14 hours after President Bush issued his ultimatum, Sen. Kennedy took to the Senate floor to denounce the administration’s budget proposal for next year, which does not include specific funds for a war with Iraq. The White House has been mum on the war’s expected costs, though analysts have come up with estimates of the military effort alone that range from $40 billion-$90 billion.
While the Senate may be debating other matters, Kennedy spokesman Mike Spahn said Sen. Kennedy does not intend to change his message that a war against Iraq at this time is irresponsible. In recent months, Sen. Kennedy emerged as one of the most unequivocal opponents of President Bush’s war policies. Earlier this year, the senator proposed a resolution that would have brought President Bush back to Congress for a second war vote.
“Sen. Kennedy has consistently spoken out about his desire to avoid war and his desire to see inspections work,” Mr. Spahn said. “He’s going to continue to speak out about the issues as they come up.”
Speaking on the Senate floor Tuesday, Sen. Kennedy said the war effort, and the rebuilding process that will follow, will cost the United States “hundreds of billions of dollars.” That Congress is to review a budget without these figures, he said, is “inconceivable.”
“This Republican budget is asking us to pretend that war is not on the horizon,” he said. “The Senate of the United States cannot accept such a sham.”
Sen. Kennedy also took aim at the Bush administration’s proposed tax cuts, which he dismissed as nonsensical during wartime. That issue was also foremost on the mind of Rep. Frank, who said the tax cuts could have “terrible consequences.”
Rep. Frank said the tax cuts could hurt Bristol County, where schools cannot afford the spending mandated under President Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act. The congressman also said that the New Bedford Housing Authority is lacking sufficient resources to meet its budget needs.
While the president’s opponents in Congress refocus on domestic matters, critics of Congress have noted the national legislature’s inactivity on the war issue. Last fall, the House and Senate voted overwhelmingly to allow President Bush to use military force in Iraq. Since then, the House has scarcely addressed the issue, and the Senate has been stalled by debate over judicial nominee Miguel Estrada.
“Congress wasn’t sidelined. Congress sidelined itself,” Rep. Frank declared. “Nobody did this to Congress. The Republican leadership decided they didn’t want to have any discussion, except for that silliness about French fries. It was a conscious decision.”
Anti-war activist Marlene Pollack, a history professor at Bristol Community College, said legislators should not be silenced by the start of war. She said she would like to see Rep. Frank continue to give voice to the concerns of his anti-war constituents.
“You’re putting our soldiers in harm’s way,” she said. “It would seem to me that that doesn’t change anything once the war begins. It’s even worse.”
Published in The New Bedford Standard Times, in Massachusetts.
