Wash. Post ignores Pence double standard on war funding bills

A June 10 Washington Post article by reporter Perry Bacon Jr. about a bill to provide supplemental funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan reported that "a provision to offer a $100 billion line of credit to the IMF, which the Senate added at Obama's request, has generated nearly unanimous opposition from House Republicans." Bacon then quoted Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) saying: "A war funding bill should be about war funding and nothing else. ... It's unconscionable Democrats are passing a global bailout on the backs of our soldiers." But Bacon did not note that Pence previously supported supplemental war spending bills enacted when Republicans controlled the House and Senate and George W. Bush was president that contained funding for hurricanes, influenza pandemics, border security, and tsunami relief.

In May 2005, Pence voted for H.R. 1268, a defense supplemental appropriations bill that included emergency funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as committed funding to Indian Ocean tsunami relief, the Department of Agriculture's emergency watershed protection program, border security, as well as prohibited states from issuing drivers licenses to undocumented immigrants.

Moreover, in December 2005, Pence voted for H.R. 2863, another defense appropriations bill that also provided funding "to address hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and pandemic influenza."

From the June 10 Washington Post article:

But a provision to offer a $100 billion line of credit to the IMF, which the Senate added at Obama's request, has generated nearly unanimous opposition from House Republicans.

"A war funding bill should be about war funding and nothing else," said Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.). "It's unconscionable Democrats are passing a global bailout on the backs of our soldiers."

The additional IMF funding, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates will cost the U.S. government $5 billion because the loans would be repaid, has sent House Democrats scurrying for votes among their own members.